Going Back
by akaJB
Summary: It's been three years since Jurassic World. Claire, Zia and Lowery are running the DPG and there's evidence people have been (illegally) back on Nublar. The only way to confirm their suspicions, is to go back themselves. Owen, of course, refuses to be left out. A reworking of Fallen Kingdom. No volcano or Maisie and bringing back Lowery. Starts off similarly, but diverges sharply.
1. Prologue

_This story came about from a discussion with Elise and Nadin about Fallen Kingdom, where I started to propose "fixes" on solving some of the holes in the movie. Which then turned into a bit of a "what if" - What if the volcano didn't erupt? What if there was no Maisie? What if Claire wasn't so easily fooled? And all of that snowballed into this._

 _The beginning will most closely resemble Fallen Kingdom as I used a lot of the initial dialogue right from the movie (which is owned by FK) but, as you'll notice right here in the prologue, things aren't quite the same._

 _While this fic is Clawen, it is equally about the whole adventure. It is *not* anywhere near as angsty as Full Circle was (sorry to the angst fans) but it's not all sunshine either (they were broken up at the start of FK, remember?)._

 _I really hope you'll join me on this journey. I'll be posting Chapter 1 later this week, and then plan to stick to a weekly update schedule similar to FC._

 **Prologue**

The inky darkness off the deep water of the lagoon was only broken up by the high powered beams projected by the sub that was carefully being steered across the bottom.

Two men sat inside the sub, one focused on steering while the other communicated with the rest of the team above, where one man had boots on the ground, while the others were in a helicopter that was standing by.

Between the lack of visibility and the feeling of claustrophobia that was inevitable when in a tiny machine 50 meters underwater, the two men were tense. Sweat beaded on their foreheads, the temperature inside rising with their apprehension. The sound of heavy breathing echoed in the small enclosure.

"Relax. Anything in here would be dead by now," one tried to reassure the other, although, he wasn't any more confident in what he was saying. It had only been a couple of months since the tragedy at Jurassic World had taken place. They were on Isla Nublar as part of a covert mission to retrieve a piece of the skeleton of the _Indominus rex_.

The fallout from Jurassic World was still reverberating around the world, with new lawsuits being announced daily. But the island itself had been placed on quarantine since that fateful day. No one was allowed to step foot on it. Thus, instead of attempting this mission during daylight (not that the light would reach them as deep as they were), they were out there in the middle of the night during a rainstorm.

They had been told that there was no way the _Mosasaurus_ was still alive, as no one had been feeding it its steady diet of daily sharks for weeks now. And on top of that, the lagoon that it swam in was not directly connected to the ocean. The _Mosasaurus_ had relied heavily on the goodwill of its Jurassic World handlers to keep it fed.

The sonar continued to ping as the pilot followed its guidance. With a small swing to the left, stark white bones appeared to jump out at them.

"There she is. The _Indominus rex_ ," the other man breathed out, awed by the sight. The skull of the creature appeared to be roughly the same size as the sub they were sitting in.

The pilot positioned the sub carefully, and then directed a clawed, robot arm to reach out, grasping onto one of the ribs. Next, a saw followed, the whirling of it sounding muffled from within the sub. The bone was easily cut through, and a balloon attached to the claw inflated. Next, the claw detached from the sub, sending the freed piece of rib skyward propelled by the attached balloon.

Back on land, not far from what use to be Main Street, a helicopter was whirling as it sat off to the side. Jack was positioned at a bank of machines, where he'd been trying to access the Jurassic World system (a side mission that he felt was doomed to fail). His radio crackled to life, as the sub pilot announced, "Specimen collected. Sent to the surface."

Jack quickly replied, "Copy that. Air One, clear for takeoff. Begin tracking."

The pilot quickly answered with a succinct, "Roger," and Jack could hear the increase whine of the helicopter's blades as it lifted into the air, moving out over the lagoon to retrieve the bone fragment.

Jack distractedly encouraged them with a "go, go" as he turned back to the machines to continue his hacking attempt.

"Tracking on," the pilot informed everyone across the radio, but Jack barely heard him, the sound of leaves shifting and branches creaking drawing his attention to a set of bushes off to the side. Staring intently he couldn't see anything, and there was no more movement. Shrugging, he turned back to his task.

"Land One, the asset is secure. We got what we came for," the helicopter pilot radioed him. "We're coming back for you."

Jack paused in his task to acknowledge, "Marine One, time to go. Get up here."

It was only seconds later before he got a reply. "Understood. We're heading up."

Back underwater, the sub pilot backed the sub carefully away from the remains of the Indominus skeleton. They had been told to try not to damage it anymore than necessary. The lights on the rear of the sub were not as powerful as the front, and so by the time they two men noticed that there was something behind them, it was too late.

The _Mosasaurus_ had been literally starving since its main meal source had been cut off. The Indominus had only supported it briefly, followed by the small fish that populated the lagoon. She needed a large meal, and she had been silently and stealthily tracking this large abnormal fish since it had entered her habitat. And when the opportunity finally presented itself, she pounced.

Back on land, Jack had been watching the lagoon for the signs of the submarine surfacing. He had expected to see it by now. "Marine One. We need to go. Confirm position." He glanced down at the tablet in his hand and was surprised to see the normal screen has been taken over by a giant, flashing red alert: Signal Lost. "Can you hear me? Are you coming up?"

The helicopter pilot had also been listening in, and now joined the conversation. "Marine One?"

A second member on the helicopter added, "Guys?"

As the helicopter lowered itself back onto land in its bid to pick up Jack, the pilot asked, "What is that?" He was looking over behind Jack. However, Jack was focused on staring out over the lagoon and didn't hear them. Near Jack, branches were snapping. There were flashes of lightning and those in the helicopter caught a glimpse of something big.

"Marine One. Seriously guys. I'm kind of exposed out here. Marine One. Confirm you're up, Marine One. Confirm position. Can you hear me, Marine One, where are you?" Jack continued to talk into his radio, peering through the rain expecting to see the sub bobbing out of the water. He could hear the helicopter landing behind him, and it sounded like there was shouting coming from there, too.

Turning away from the water, he looked over at the helicopter where the three men in the back were waving at him. He could tell they were yelling something, but he couldn't hear them. Why weren't they using the radio?

Pointing to the lagoon behind him, Jack yelled back, "I can't reach them."

The men just became more frantic, gesturing wildly at him.

"What?" Jack questioned. He looked behind himself but didn't see anything. "What is going on? I can't hear you!" He pointed to his ears as he raised his shoulders in question.

There's a large growl, and he turned around again, but this time more cautiously. A dinosaur, what one, he was not sure, stepped out of the bushes. He didn't understand why they were so frantic, as the dinosaur was barely up to his shoulder. It looked at him curiously, tilting its head to the size.

"Nice dinosaur. Good dinosaur," Jack said nervously, backing away towards the helicopter.

The dinosaur trilled at him, darting forward a couple of steps, causing Jack to scramble back faster. "Good dinosaur. Good dinosaur," he repeated.

The dinosaur paused, turning its head slightly as if in question and looking over its shoulder.

There was a brief pause, where it all goes silent, except for the steady sound of the rain pounding the ground. Then, everything happened at once. The small dinosaur took off to the left and from behind him appeared a bigger dinosaur, a dinosaur Jack did know the name of, a _T. rex_ , came crashing out of the bushes.

Jack barely had time to pull in a breath before he was screaming, his legs churning as he turned and headed straight for the helicopter, only to see that it was already taking off.

"No, no! What! Don't go! No!" Jack yelled as he ran.

The pilot on the helicopter barked to the men in the back. "Throw him the ladder."

"Come on! Bring it down! Slow down! No, no, no! Don't go!" Jack continued to yell, racing after them. He watched as the ladder fell from the back of the helicopter, landing with a loud smack against the pavement. Whimpering, he took a quick glance over his shoulder only to see the _T-Rex_ is keeping pace behind him, apparently not in a rush. "Oh god!"

The helicopter was now moving out over the lagoon. Just as it was about to pull away, Jack managed to jump on top of an old food cart. He took a flying leap, grabbing the ladder just in time.

His relief was short lived, as the _T-Rex_ was barely a step behind him, and she grabbed hold of the ladder too, yanking it back towards land, and causing alarms in the helicopter to blare.

The pilot started to panic, "We're gonna stall! Cut it now!"

"Give him a chance!" One of the men in the back cried out.

"We're gonna die here!" The pilot reminded them.

"Come on! Come on!" Another man called down to Jack, wishing he'd hurry up.

"No, no, no," Jack whimpered, clutching tightly to the ladder. With the T-Rex pulling at it, it was swaying dangerously and he didn't dare attempt to climb higher.

"I said cut it!" The pilot demanded.

"Don't do it! I don't wanna die!" Jack yelled back.

The pilot tried again to pull away and rise higher, and this time the ladder snapped, leaving the bottom half hanging from the mouth of the T-Rex as the helicopter move freely and further out across the lagoon.

"Woohoo!" "Yeah!" There was laughter from the men in the helicopter. Certain death now avoided, they all breathed easier. The men in the back looked down at Jack, encouraging him to move up, as the _T-Rex_ roared in frustration before stalking off.

Their laughter was premature, the _Mosasaurus_ was still hungry and had realized that its earlier meal was not actually food. But this? This looks exactly like how it was used to being fed—by food dangling over its head. It leapt for the yellow morsel, giant mouth easily swallowing the food in a single gulp, before landing back in the lagoon with an enormous splash.

On the helicopter there was silence, the cheering and laughter cut-off as they all looked down at the lagoon in shock, before turning toward each other. A couple moments later, one man picked up his radio and stated calmly, "DNA sample secured. Tell the boss we're coming back home."

* * *

 _Hope the prologue got you intrigued and excited to see how things might change as we revisit Fallen Kingdom. I always love to hear from readers, so let me know what you think and any predictions you may have for what's to come._


	2. Chapter 1

_Whoops - I forgot on the prologue, but I want to extend thanks to Camazotz who I've had a few really in-depth discussions about JP and JW and definitely made me think deeper about how some of this will play out._

 **Chapter 1**

As the elevator doors closed, giving her a few moments of privacy, Claire allowed her shoulders to droop, head hanging down. Recently, every day felt like a struggle. The third year anniversary of the Jurassic World incident was quickly approaching, which meant the topic was starting to spike in the news again. She had hoped that the DPG would be able to benefit from the increased coverage, but so far they weren't pulling in as many donations as they had planned and hoped for.

And if that wasn't enough, who knew what the hell was going on with her and Owen, as things between them had been off kilter for months now, and she still wasn't sure if their last fight had actually ended with them breaking up (and she was too afraid to ask). On top of that, Karen had been on her case about traveling East for a visit. And, of course, also about Owen.

Work had always been her refuge. A place where Claire felt self-confident and competent. She had worked her way up the ladder at Jurassic World, from intern to Operations Manager. She had commanded respect from not only the thousands of employees, but also politicians, celebrities, and highly successful CEOs. She wasn't used to feeling at a loss; at not knowing what the right next move was or how to turn the tide in her favour.

But lately, work was just another stressor. And she was realizing, that even though she lived in a vibrant city and was no longer limited in her main everyday interactions to only those who worked with her, she didn't have friends outside of work. And at work… Well, she considered Zia and Lowerly her friends. But, besides them, most of their staff were interns, and she often felt like the only grown up in the room. This was not a feeling she cherished.

She used the brief moments in the elevator to just be. To take a few deep breaths and to not have to put on a false smile or pretend act. For those few moments, she let the world press down on her, and her body responded accordingly.

The second the elevator dinged and the doors started to open, however, she was standing tall, confident smile across her face, ready to face the world. Her smile slipped, briefly, as the elevator doors, again, barely opened wide enough for her to squeeze through. She really needed to make it a priority to talk to the building's landlord and see about getting that fixed. She'd ripped a shirt on it last week trying to get out.

She slipped into the organized chaos of the office. The main area consisted of a giant room with scattered desks, all cluttered with computers and craft supplies (they spent a surprising amount of time creating posters and leading rallies). A short hallway at the back led to the single bathroom, a tiny cramped kitchen (term used loosely, as all it held was a fridge, sink, coffeemaker and some snacks), and a single office space with a door. Hers. If she was going to be the only adult in the room, then she needed that escape. Not that she actually used it all that often.

Her schedule was pretty chaotic. She spent a lot of time on the phone trying to reach anyone with any influence. And then followed up most of those phone calls with in-person meetings. Recently, many of those meetings had required her to be in DC and there was a part of her wondering, not for the first time, why she didn't just place the DPG headquarters there. It would've been a lot more convenient. Except for Owen. And the dinosaurs.

Not that being closer to Isla Nublar had helped in anyway. No one had been allowed on the island for years now. That was, of course, another thorn in the side of the DPG. It was hard to continue to convince people they should donate to their cause and that their cause was worthwhile, when they couldn't provide any real updates as to how the dinosaurs were faring. Or even how the island itself was faring. It had been hit by a few hurricanes (thankfully only category 1 or 2) since the travel ban had been put in place. The lack of access had also meant they really weren't able to do much but lobby on the dinosaurs' behalf.

The island was located on the Ring of Fire, which is badly named since it was a horseshoe shape and not a ring. The Ring of Fire generally traces the outlines of the Pacific Ocean on both the east and west sides, crossing over at the north end and is known for the number of earthquakes and volcanoes located within the region. Nublar wasn't immune from that, boasting its own Volcano — Mount Sibo. Claire wasn't expecting any problems from the volcano, as it had been dormant for thousands of years, and in the entire time she'd been on Nublar, there had never been even an inkling of that status changing.

At least Silicon Valley was still teeming with people with money to burn. She may not be tech-focused, but she was starting to learn the lingo, and was getting good at pulling money from their hands.

Dodging her employees, she made her way first to Lowery, dropping off his Coke Zero, before moving on to Zia who was busy talking on the phone.

"As a matter-of-fact, I do have the dinosaurs' best interest in mind. I'm a paleo-veterinarian," she heard Zia say, watching her friend roll her eyes. "That's a real thing," Zia paused, giving another eye roll. "No, I haven't seen one with my own eyes. You know, not everyone can afford to spend their life savings…"

Zia started waving frantically at her, and Claire willingly traded Zia her double espresso for the phone.

"Oh, um… Hello. Hello, um…" Claire looked questioningly at Zia.

Zia whispered back: "Congresswoman Delgado."

"Congresswoman Delgado. I'm Claire. I'm the lead organizer here." She paused, listening, before adding, "Of course, but if I could just get a moment of your time?" Claire nodded again, as she turned away from Zia and Lowery, wandering to the other side of the room. Vaguely, she heard Lowery teasing Zia about her phone handling skills and Zia bantering back. The friendships she had with Lowery and Zia were part of what made working at the DPG worthwhile. Some days, it was the only part. At Jurassic World, her job had isolated her from so many of the other employees, as she was almost everyone's boss. It had actually been what had drawn her towards Owen when she first met him because she wasn't his boss, and they had been able to develop a friendship. Her enduring friendship with Lowery was one of the few silver linings from the fallout of Jurassic World.

"Great. Thank you. Um.. So, our mission here at the Dinosaur Protection Group is to secure federal funding for a safe, natural…" Claire continued to give her normal DPG spiel. She's said it so many times now, she swore she could give it in her sleep. As she finished, the congresswoman still sounded noncommittal. "Can I ask you a question?

" _Go on._ " The congresswoman encouraged.

"Do you have kids?"

" _Two girls._ "

"Okay. So, your kids, an entire generation, has grown up in a world where dinosaurs are living and breathing. But soon, they're gonna have to watch them go extinct. Or not. If people like you make a difference." Claire crossed her fingers tightly, tense as she waited for a response.

A moment passed, and then, "Set up a meeting with my office and we can talk." As the call was transferred over to the congresswoman's assistant, she turned back towards Zia and gave her a thumbs up. Zia responded with two fists raised in victory.

After hanging up with the assistant, appointment made, Claire headed back over to Zia, carrying her own coffee cup.

"Cheers!" Zia toasted, holding up her cup, as she approached. Gently tapping cups, Claire grinned back, and settled onto a chair beside Zia's desk.

"How are things going today?" Claire looked around the room. Zia's background was as a paleo-veterinarian, but at the DPG her role was much more second-in-command. There were not a lot of daily paleo-vet activities to be done with the dinosaurs still on Isla Nublar and the island still under quarantine, barring outside access. The DPG had been trying to get an exception to that rule for over a year now, but had had no luck.

"Normal," Zia shrugged. "There's another rally being planned in a couple of weeks, so some are getting a jump on the posters. We really need some new information. It's getting tough to continue to try and raise money, hell, to even get people to care at this point. There hasn't been any video footage from that island in over a year. People are starting to think that the dinosaurs are all probably dead already."

"I know," Claire sighed. "I'm working on it, I really am."

"I know you are."

"Hey, I've got an in-person meeting scheduled with Delgado. Maybe this will be the in we need," Claire gave a hopeful smile. "You never know."

"Let's hope," Zia agreed.

"You will see a dinosaur with your own eyes," Claire promised, getting up from her seat. "I'm going to make sure of that."

"Even if it's illegal?" Zia raised an eyebrow in question. She'd been pushing Claire on this for a few weeks now. That if the government wasn't going to cave, that they may have to take matters into their own hands.

"We're not there yet," Claire shook her head. "But… let's cross that bridge when we come to it."

Heading back across the room, she heard her phone ringing. Picking it up, the screen said "No Caller ID." While not common, it also wasn't rare that she got calls from people she didn't know. She was always handing out her phone number, wanting potential donors to be able to reach her. Answering the phone she said, "Hello?"

" _May I speak with Ms. Dearing?_ "

"Yes, this is Claire Dearing."

" _Good morning, I'm calling from Mr. Benjamin Lockwood's estate. Would you mind holding for a second?_ "

"Yes, of course I'll hold," Claire nodded, even though the caller couldn't see her do so. As she waited, she thought back over what she knew about Mr. Lockwood. She had met him a few times over the years and knew he had been an associate of John Hammond's. She wondered why he was reaching out to her now.

x x x

The next day, Claire took a short flight up the coast to a small regional airport. A chauffeur was waiting for her, and drove her the rest of the way to the Lockwood Estate.

Pulling through the gates, she looked around in awe. Knowing it was an estate, she had expected it to be large, but this was even bigger than she had imagined. The house, if you could call it that, looked more like a castle. Stone walls that reached up high into the sky. The lot itself was flawlessly landscaped, each bush perfectly trimmed, the grass mowed, and the driveway edged. Obviously a lot of time, money, and care was spent on the property.

Climbing the steep steps to the front door, she rang the bell, shifting nervously. The door opened rather quickly, an older woman standing there with perfect posture. "Ms. Dearing. You're early. Would you like to step in."

"Thank you," Claire smiled at her, stepping over the threshold. Entering the grand lobby, she could see a wide staircase stretching up to the next floor. The walls were adorned with big, heavy oil paintings, the type and style you often saw in museums. Well, museums and homes of those with old money.

"I will inform Mr. Mills that you've arrived," the woman told her, before leaving her alone in the lobby.

After examining one painting, she spun slowly in a circle, her eyes catching on a portrait of John Hammond.

"John Alfred Hammond, the father of Jurassic Park." At the sound of the voice, Claire spun around again, this time to see a man descending the staircase. He continued, "But of course you knew that. Hello, Claire. I'm Eli Mills." He held out his hand as he approached and she shook it. "I work for Ben Lockwood. We actually met once, seven, eight years ago, and you don't remember.

"Of course I remember," Claire smiled at him. In her line of work she had developed a strong ability to never forget a face. Or any important details about them. "Haven't you run his foundation since…"

"Since college, yeah. You remember?" Eli looked ecstatic that she did. His mannerisms reminded her of some of the DPG interns, who would look up at her in awe on their first meeting. She knew they were remembering the reports, video and pictures after the fallout of Jurassic World. The security camera shot of her standing in front of Paddock 9 as it opened, followed by her leading the T-Rex away with the flare held high, had been shown ad nauseam. But Eli wasn't in his early twenties. If her memory served her correctly, he was only a few years younger than herself, placing him in his early thirties.

"Yes," Claire nodded.

"Wow. Cool." Claire barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Eli continued, "He wanted someone young and idealistic to spend his fortune and … I use to be both."

Eli laughed, and Claire laughed politely with him.

"Follow me," Eli gestured towards her, as he headed out of the lobby, entering a room that would look more normal in a museum than in a house. In the center of the room was a large triceratops fossilized skull. The room also consisted of a few more dinosaur skeletons (some complete), while the two sides of the room boasted dioramas, depicting scenes from the age of the dinosaurs. In one, she could see a brightly coloured _Dilophosaurus_.

"Let me give you a bit of history," Eli started, as he led her into the rom. "This is where it all began. Before the island, Sorna, Jurassic Park, all of it. Hammond and Lockwood built a custom lab in the sub-basement, extracted the first DNA from amber right beneath our feet."

"That's incredible. What they did here was a miracle. I still believe that," Claire remarked, her gaze still travelling the room. The ceiling was made of glass, filling the room with natural light. Above the dioramas, running around the circumference of the room on the second floor was an almost library, walls covered in books, with a small hallway or catwalk in front that looked down over the dinosaurs below.

"So do I, Claire. So do I," Eli was nodding at her, large grin still on his face. "And I still believe it matters what happens to those animals. There is something Mr. Lockwood would very much like to talk to you about, Claire. You can call it a favour for an old friend."

"You're gonna to help them? You're gonna save them?" Claire questioned, hope rising in her voice.

"No, Ms. Dearing. I'm going to save us. We could both use a touch of redemption, couldn't we?" Claire turned to see Mr. Lockwood approaching them. He was sitting in a wheelchair, but seemed strong enough to manage maneuvering it on his own. As he got close, he added, "Lovely to see you again."

"And you, Mr. Lockwood," Claire reached out and grasped his hand with hers.

"This was John Hammond's dream. To let these creatures live in peace," Lockwood said, looking around the room. "For the dinosaurs to be free. No fences. No cages. No tourists. Just as Mother Nature intended. John said it best. 'These creatures don't need our protection. They need our absence.' When we were young, we both shared this passion, John and I. What fools we were, trying to run before we'd learned to walk. As all young men do, I suppose. But we learned. Unfortunately, in the end, it drove us apart." Lockwood looked down and off to the side for a moment, before his gaze met hers again. "Life teaches us some very hard lessons, doesn't it, Claire?"

"Yes," Claire whispered her agreement. The past three years could be summed up as a series of very hard lessons. And it didn't feel like the universe was done with her yet.

"Sir Benjamin," the woman who had let Claire into the house had approached the group silently from the side.

"My bloody medicines," Lockwood cursed with annoyance. "Will you excuse me, Claire?"

"Of course," Claire nodded.

The older woman took control of the back of Lockwood's wheelchair, turning him to leave the room. Lockwood motioned for his caretaker to halt and looked toward Claire, "Eli here, will help you with the details. We will save them. What a gift for our children."

"Thank you," Claire gave him a large smile, watching until he turned away, before directing her attention back towards Eli. "So, what do you need from me?"

Eli led her out of the room as they were talking, taking her upstairs into his office. "As Ben said, we're really interested in doing what we can do to help save the dinosaurs. I know you've been working on this with your group, the D.P…?"

"The DPG – Dinosaur Protection Group," Claire reminded him.

"Right," Eli gestured her to one side of a large table, as he moved around to the other. The shiny black surface lit up as he touched it, and Claire realized it was actually a large touchscreen display. "We've been doing some of our own independent research into what's been going on on the island since the unfortunate closure of Jurassic World." Eli dragged a map of Nublar from a corner, before stretching it out at the corners, growing it to a much larger size. "We know there was damage sustained during the Indominus escape here, here, here, and here." Eli pointed to various points on the map. Claire recognized them as Paddock 11, part of the fence on the gyrosphere territory, the aviary, and main street. "Of course, the dinosaurs have had three years to wreck more havoc, so we don't know what else has been destroyed since then. Some of the animal enclosures remained intact following the events, and it's unclear if they would've been able to get out, or if the food supplies available to them would've been enough."

"Right." Nothing Eli was saying was new to Claire. This was all stuff she and the DPG had figured out on their own. It was part of the reason Zia was pushing so hard to get them back on the island. They should've had remote access to the camera systems from off island, but something had malfunctioned within the weeks following the incident, and as people had not been allowed to return to the island, it had been impossible to fix. The DPG was running their entire campaign based on assumptions. They assumed the _Mosasaurus_ was dead — the animal lived in an enclosed lagoon that couldn't sustain a large enough fish population to keep it alive. The _T-Rex_ had survived for years after the original Jurassic Park incident and so they assumed she would continue to be fine on her own. They also assumed the Gentle Giant petting zoo dinosaurs were probably some of the first to succumb, between any injuries sustained from the pteranodons and being easy pickings for any escaped carnivores, like Blue (assuming she survived). "We've come to the same conclusions."

"We had hoped to be able to get some men on the island," Mills admitted, looking down at the map. "We've been petitioning the government to do just so, but haven't been successful."

This surprised Claire. She hadn't even heard rumours of anyone else attempting to get on the island.

"The best we've managed, was to get a drone to do a few flyover passes on the island," Eli brought up a folder. From the names, it was clear it was a mix of images and video. He opened a bunch of the images, spreading them across the table top. "We've been able to confirm sightings of some of the animals, like the Brachiosaurus," he pointed to a specific image. "But not all of them. For example, we've been unable to confirm whether all four raptors died or not." He pulled up an old image, an image Claire recognized from reports she had read back on Jurassic World, showing the four velociraptors spread in a semicircle.

Leaning over the table, Claire dragged the image closer to herself, looking at it intently. She'd spent enough time listening to stories, and looking at old pictures and videos with Owen after the incident, that she was able to identify the individual raptors. She tapped on each one on the photo as she spoke. "Charlie died during a firefight with the Indominus. Echo was tossed into a fire pit during the final battle, I'm sure she died. Delta got slammed into a wall, and our best guess is that she died, too. We never saw her move again. Blue," Claire paused, finger resting on the dinosaur. "Blue is the only one that we think is likely to be alive."

"Blue. Oh, I didn't know she had a name," Eli looked at where she was pointing. "Well, that may clear up some of our data. There's a couple of shots from the drone that we think show a velociraptor. If Blue is the only survivor, it must be her."

"What are you hoping to do?" Claire asked, tucking away the information about Blue. For once, she'd have something positive to share with Owen about his favourite dinosaur. Not that she was sure he'd want to know it. He'd been bitter about her starting the DPG, insisting that they'd be better off making a clean break. " _Nothing good can come of that now. We should let it all go,_ " he'd said.

"What you're trying to do, save them," Eli looked at her eagerly.

"Well, we'd be happy to join forces," Claire put out hesitantly. Looking back down at the table top, an uneasy feeling started to creep over her. Why hadn't they approached the DPG earlier? It's not like they wouldn't have known what she and her team were trying to do. They'd done all they could to be as transparent and open as possible. Chasing every possible media lead, to get their cause in front of people.

"Excellent," Mills clapped his hands. "I know Ben will be happy to hear that. We've heard you have a paleo-vet on your team. After all these years, I imagine some of the dinosaurs could use a check up."

"Yes, Dr. Zia Rodriguez," Claire nodded slowly. "But we can't get onto the island. We've also been petitioning for access. We've wanted to do a headcount. See if we can't reactivate the cameras and tracking system."

"You think the tracking system will still work?" Eli looked surprised.

"If we can get it back online, yes. The implants are powered off the movement of the dinosaurs, so they should all still be functioning. Well, assuming the dinosaurs they're implanted in are still alive."

"Oh, wow, I did not know that," Eli nodded happily. "That would be very useful indeed."

The meeting had continued on for a while longer and Claire had found herself reluctant to give any further details on the DPG's activities. Not that most of what she didn't say couldn't be easily found on their website. But the uneasy feeling hadn't left. Instead, it had grown more intense over the course of the meeting. She couldn't put her finger on why or what exactly was bothering her. But something was.

* * *

 _As always, I'm so grateful you took the time to read. I really hope you can spare a couple more moments to drop me a quick review. Comments, suggestions, criticism, or even just a random line about how your day is going. :)_


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Claire had arrived home late the previous afternoon. She had debated going into the office, but decided she needed some time by herself to think over the meeting before she discussed it with anyone else. She wasn't sure if she was blowing things out of proportion or not. Was she overthinking things? Reading into Mills' actions stuff that wasn't there?

Today was a new day, however, and she was ready to talk it over. She already knew what Zia was likely to say. Even though she hated it, her gut instinct and Zia were likely right.

Similarly to how she arrived most days, she brought in drinks for Zia, Lowery and herself. This morning she'd also picked up a couple dozen donuts for the office. She was feeling the need of a sugar rush. After placing the donuts in a communal area (but rescuing their favourites first), she headed over with the donuts and drinks, dropping off Lowery's before handing Zia hers and sitting down next to her friend.

"So?" Zia looked at her expectantly.

"What?" Claire feigned ignorance.

"Oh, come on," Zia groaned. "What happened? Is he going to donate? Is it big? Something else? Well?"

"It was… interesting," Claire replied.

"Huh?" Zia leaned back in her chair, eyeing her friend closely. "Interesting good or interesting bad?"

"Just… interesting," Claire hedged. She took a bite of her donut, to buy herself some time. "The conversation with Lockwood was nice. He's interested in saving the dinosaurs. Gave a line about redemption and then repeated one of Hammond's famous lines – you know the one, about how dinosaurs need our absence." Claire pulled another piece off her donut, chewing slowly. "It was his young associate, Mills, that I'm not so sure about."

"Mills? I don't think I've heard of him," Zia stated, crumpling up her napkin, her donut inhaled in just a few bites.

"Eli Mills. He runs Lockwood's foundation. Well, I think 'runs' is the right word. He's been working for him since college. I think he's probably your age. I've met him once before. I thought he was just a normal guy, maybe a tad too idealistic the first time I met him. Not so much anymore."

"What did he do? Oh, don't tell me – he hit on you!" Zia groaned.

"What? No. No, no, no," Claire shook her head. "Nothing like that. At least," she paused, looking thoughtful. "I don't think he was hitting on me. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It's just, as we were talking, he brought up that they've been trying to get on the island."

"Wait," Zia held up a hand. "Why does he want to go to Nublar?"

"I don't know. The whole thing was odd. He was talking about wanting to save the dinosaurs and how they've managed to take a drone over the island and get some pictures and videos. They think they've got shots of a velociraptor."

"Blue's alive?" Lowery turned around and butted into the conversation. He had been pretending to work but mostly just eavesdropping. His excitement and abrupt movements caused his glasses to slide down his nose, and he pushed them back up with an annoyed huff.

"I don't think any of the others survived," Claire nodded. "So, if there's one on the island, it must be Blue."

"Oh wow, Owen's going to–" Zia started, only to be cut off by Claire.

"No!" Claire stated firmly.

"We have to tell him," Zia disagreed and Lowery nodded in agreement with her. "He'd want to know."

"Not yet, not until we know for sure," Claire persuaded. "I don't want to get his hopes up."

"What else did Mills say?" Zia asked.

"He seemed really interested in the tracking system. And talked about wanting to get a paleo-vet on the island–you specifically," Claire nodded her head at Zia.

"I'm down!" Zia agreed immediately.

"They don't have permission any more than we do," Claire reminded her. "No one's going to the island."

"Have you ever thought–" Lowery started before cutting himself off.

"Thought what?" Zia asked. "Come on, spit it out."

"I mean, how do we really know that no one else has been on the island?" Lowery asked in an almost whisper, as if he didn't want anyone to overhear. "I mean, it's a pretty big island. It's remote. It's not like it's surrounded by armed guards or anything. And the whole security system is down, so you wouldn't get caught on video."

"Oh, there's the inner bad-boy I knew was in there all along," Zia joked. "Look at that Claire, even Lowery is willing to go to the island illegally. How can you say no, now?"

"Wait, what?" Lowery's gaze jumped between them. "That's not what I said."

"You keep a pretty close eye on all the internet chatter around the island and Jurassic World, right?" Claire asked Lowery, ignoring their bantering.

"Well, yeah, sort of," Lowery nodded. "I mean, as part of the social media part of DPG, I, and others, are always trying to monitor what people are talking about. But, we're not digging into the dark web or anything. Just the main public news."

"What have people been talking about? Anything much about Nublar?"

"We sort of lump people into four groups. The first are your basic followers. You know, the people who will retweet or like stuff you post. They may throw a few dollars towards us, but they aren't ones who will start anything. The next group are the info-gatherers. We like this group. They're probably as invested in this as we are, but are unable to be part of the DPG for time, money, location, family or whatever reason. These people are ones who are really actively promoting what we're doing. They'll give us good suggestions and supply us with the knowledge and skills we may be missing. For example, if we mention we're trying to edit a video or something, someone will be right there to offer help. The third group are the trolls. That groups pretty self-explanatory. And the fourth, well, the fourth we call the conspiracy nuts."

"Conspiracy nuts? That doesn't sound good," Claire said. "Are they like the trolls?"

"Not exactly," Lowery hedged. "They're sort of like them, but they're harder to dismiss. Some of their theories are really outlandish. They're the kind of people who are the reason that our president is still going around talking about how dinosaurs never existed, and what we made are completely fake animals that were likely animatronic."

"How did that guy get elected again?" Zia mumbled under her breath.

"What about the other theories?" Claire asked pointedly, ignoring Zia again.

"Some of them are kind of interesting," Lowery admitted. "It's easy to go down the rabbit hole with them. There's been some chatter about Dr. Wu and what he's been up to since his disappearance. I've seen people making connections between him and something happening in Costa Rica. And I've definitely seen people pontificating about how there are ways to get on the islands. I mean, people have been on Sorna twice now and that's even _farther_ away."

"Okay, we really need to go," Zia implored. "Who knows what mess people may have made on Nublar?"

"I don't think anyone has actually gone," Lowery replied. "If they had, I think there'd be news. I mean, what are the odds that no one would be injured?"

"Well, we know people have at least been close to the island," Claire reminded them. "Mills and his guys have had a drone fly over. The island is too far away for them to have done that from Costa Rica. They would've had to, at minimum, had a boat out there."

"Why wouldn't they just fly a helicopter over the island?" Zia asked. "Wouldn't that be easier?"

"You can't get as low in a helicopter," Lowery replied. "If they were looking for anything specific, like the dinosaurs, you'd want to be closer to the ground. Need to be able to look in between trees. A drone would give you that."

"Come on, Claire. Please?" Zia begged. "If Mills is up to something, he probably has the resources to be on island if he wants to be. Let's go take a look. Just a quick one."

"I don't know," Claire was still unsure. She wasn't sure that she even wanted to step foot back onto the island, much less take anyone with her. Not with all the dinosaurs loose. Not without knowing what she'd be stepping back into.

"You said the tracking system should still work, right?" Zia asked, before continuing without waiting for a reply. "So let's get it up and running again. If we know where the dinosaurs are, we can make sure we don't run into them. And, besides, we don't need to go looking for any of the carnivores. We can probably do most everything right from the control room."

"Well…" Claire looked unsettled at the thought. The tracking system sure would help.

"Think of how good it would be to have those cameras back up. Think of how much it will help the DPG to be able to show recent pictures and video. To maybe even livestream what's going on right from the island," Zia was leaning forward now, hands waving about with excitement.

"How are we going to manage all of that, the two of us?" Claire looked at her skeptically. "I mean, I can probably get the system back up, or at least log in. But if there are any problems…"

"So we go the three of us," Zia replied.

"The three? Who's your third?" Lowery asked.

Zia just stared at him, her look getting more intense as he didn't clue in at first.

"What, me?" Lowery shook his head in disagreement. "I mean, I _loved_ my job there, but I'm not crazy. Those dinosaurs are legit and I don't think they'll be happy to see people again–except maybe as food. Chicken fingers, but human sized."

"But we'll need you," Zia replied. "If there are any technical problems we're going to need you right there, not a phone call away."

"I don't care. Take someone else," Lowery backed away from them.

"It's not like we'd be going try to be bait," Zia dismissed his concerns with a shrug, before turning to look back at Claire. "It's settled – the three of us will go."

"You don't _try_ to be bait with dinosaurs," Lowery mumbled. "You just _are_."

"Wait a second," Claire held up a hand. "This is still all illegal, remember?"

"Right, illegal," Lowery jumped on the words. "I'm not doing something illegal."

"As if everything you do on that thing," Zia waves at Lowery's laptop behind him, "is legal."

"Claire…" Zia just looked at her friend, putting on her best puppy dog expression.

"Let me think about it," Claire sighed. She stood up, tossing her now empty coffee cup in the trash, along with her balled up napkin.

Zia followed her as she started to move away. "You are going to have to talk to Owen," she reminded Claire in a low voice, not wanting others to overhear. Claire had confided in Zia some of what was going on between her and Owen, but even if she hadn't, Zia knew things had changed. While Owen had never been exactly common around the DPG offices, he would come around now and then to take Claire out for lunch or pick her up after a long day. But it had been months since that had happened. "You can't go back to the island without letting him know first."

"I know," Claire nodded, hand going to the back of her neck. She could feel her shoulders rising with tension. "Let me see what I can figure out first. Preferably none of us are going back to that island."

"Hey!" Zia faked outrage. "I thought you were on my side. That I was going to get to see them."

"I am and you will. I just was really hoping it wasn't going to require us doing something illegal to make that happen."

x x x

A couple of days go by and Claire managed to push her meeting with Mills to the back of her mind. He hasn't followed up with her and her schedule had been packed with other DPG meetings with potential investors. That morning she'd had a meeting pitching why supporting DPG would be a great idea to some investor groups in San Francisco before catching the BART back over to Oakland, where she was now heading into the office for the afternoon.

The moment she stepped foot over the threshold Lowery was by her side. He was trying to act all nonchalant, like this was a normal occurrence (it wasn't), but she had known him for almost 10 years now and didn't fall for it. She let him hover beside her as she went about hanging up her coat and greeting a bunch of the other employees. Then, exasperated, she headed towards her office at the back, catching Zia's eye as she passed her desk and gesturing to her friend to follow them.

Once inside her office, Claire settled behind her desk, pulling her laptop out of her bag and opening it up. Zia dropped into one of the two chairs facing her desk, while Lowery hovered by the door. He looked around carefully into the hallway. Seemingly satisfied with what he saw, he shut the door behind him before sitting in the chair next to Zia.

Now that he was seated, Claire could see that he'd been tightly clutching a tablet. "What's up?" She finally asked when he didn't immediately offer anything.

His gaze shifted around the room carefully again, looking for _what_ Claire had no clue, before he carefully placed the tablet on the desk, pulling his chair closer. "Something's _definitely_ going on," he whispered. "Look what I found."

Both Zia and Claire pulled themselves closer to the desk, leaning forward to get a good view of the tablet. On the screen, there was a picture of a couple of _Triceratops_ – an adult and a baby. They appear to be grazing in an open meadow or field area. Claire thought, if she squinted, that there might be a _Brontosaurus_ in the background, but she couldn't be sure.

"I've seen tons of pictures of _Triceratops_ , what makes this one special?" Zia asked. "Looks just like any other tourist shot from Nublar."

"Right, _looks like_ ," Lowery agreed, nodding at Zia. "But it's _not_."

"Why?"

Lowery looked over at Claire who was studying the picture intently. She pulled the tablet towards herself. There was something about the picture. Something was gnawing at her that there was something wrong. She was just struggling to put her finger on it. She was racking her brain, flipping through her mental catalogue on the _Triceratops_ and Jurassic World. Slowly, she reached out a hand, her finger tapping lightly on the baby _Triceratops_. _That_ was what was wrong.

"Figured it out?" Claire looked up and Lowery was looking at her with a gleeful expression. "It's got to be recent…"

"Someone clue me in," Zia leaned even farther forward, looking at the baby _Triceratops_ under Claire's finger. "What's wrong with the baby? I mean, the picture isn't the best but it looks fine to me."

"It shouldn't be there," Claire said slowly. "Where did you find this picture?" She turned to Lowery.

"It started floating around social media late yesterday. I've been trying to trace its origins. Looks like a brand new twitter account posted it as it's first post."

"Why shouldn't it be there?" Zia was starting to get annoyed. It was clear that there was something significant about the picture to the other two, but she wasn't following.

"All the dinosaurs on Jurassic World were bred," Claire started explaining slowly. "Brought to life in a lab. We stuck with the original Jurassic Park plan of making all the dinosaurs female. They weren't _all_ female, some of the ones we brought over from Sorna were male. But all the ones we bred were female."

"Right, so?" Zia didn't understand how this had anything to do with the picture. "You still bred new dinosaurs, so there would've been baby _Triceratops_. I mean, I _know_ I've seen pictures of baby _Triceratops_ before. Weren't they part of the petting zoo?"

"They were," Claire nodded. "When dinosaurs were born on Jurassic World, depending on the breed, they spent their first few months in what we called the nursery, away from any visitors. The 'Gentle Giants' would then get moved to the petting zoo for a few years, before we would then introduce them to the adults." Claire looked down at the picture again, tapping her finger gently against the baby. "This _Triceratops_ is too young to be with the adults. This picture _can't_ be from Jurassic World…"

There was silence for a few moments. As the weight of the information sunk in, Zia sat back in her chair, her mouth falling open.

"My thoughts exactly," Lowery was nodding in agreement. "I'm not sure how many people would understand the significance of this picture. But it's _got_ to be recent. You know what that means Claire…"

"Yeah," Claire sighed heavily. "Two things. People have been back on Nublar and," she swallowed heavily, "the dinosaurs are breeding."

* * *

 _Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Comments keep me motivated and on track to finish this.  
_

 _I think I'm far enough ahead / have planned enough, that my current plan is to post twice a week - Sat / Wed. It's looking to be 15-17ish chapters (give or take a few, depending how things how play out). Some scenes end up so much shorter than I expect, and others way longer when the characters have stuff they want to say._

 _Owen makes his appearance next chapter and in Chapter 4 we're off to Nublar!_

 _As always, I'd love to hear anything you want to share. Drop me a comment in the box below. :)_


	4. Chapter 3

_Owen time. Enjoy. :)_

 **Chapter 3**

It was a two hour drive out to where Owen was building his cabin in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It wasn't the first time Claire had been to this plot of land. The purchase, an impulsive buy that Owen later claimed he just couldn't pass up, was a sore point in their relationship.

Relationship. Now that was actually a tricky word. Three years post Jurassic World and Claire still didn't even know how to define what she and Owen had (or no longer had – she wasn't sure). It wasn't something they had ever really discussed. It was more just something that happened.

Owen buying the lot probably should've been the catalyst for the two to have a real conversation about it. But it hadn't. While Claire hadn't been particularly happy about the land purchase, she hadn't been mad either. And when Owen talked about storing his trailer out there, she had started to think maybe it was even a good purchase. That now he wouldn't feel the same need to just go out on the road for days on end. That he'd have a place to escape to. He could still go off-grid like he wanted, but she'd know where to find him.

But the odd weekend or week on his lot soon turned into every weekend. And then he started talking about building a cabin. About the angle he wanted to build it on, so that it would be just right for capturing the sunrise over the mountains and sunset over the lake. He kept insisting it would be small, with a single bedroom and a loft area for any occasional guests. "Mostly open floor plan," he had said, "you'll love it." She had smiled and nodded as he'd daydream, not expecting it to turn into anything. Then a few weeks later, floor-plans started appearing and she had realized that he was serious.

" _Who's going to build it?" she had asked him._

" _Me."_

" _You?"_

" _Don't look so surprised," Owen had chuckled. "I built a lot of the additions at my bungalow. I'm good with tools."_

Once he started working on it, the weekends away became weeks away. And then, at some point, it became clear that he was living at his lot and visiting her and not the other way around.

He still kept stuff at her place. But it was _her_ place, now.

When they'd moved to Oakland, it had made more sense to buy than rent, as they'd moved there specifically because of the DPG. At the time, Claire was the one with money in the bank. She had sold her condo in San Diego and was able to put down money on a new place. Owen had been still waiting (and hoping) to see a settlement cheque from InGen. So, she'd been the one who bought the place.

They had, however, looked together. Claire had thought they had chosen together. And, more importantly, she had thought that they had bought together. It wasn't about where the down payment came from. Not to her. It wasn't until Owen bought his lot and started openly referring to it as "his" place and their home as "hers" that she realized she was wrong. That while she may have seen it as theirs, he hadn't.

While Owen kept stuff at her place, Claire didn't have anything at his. As it was, all he had out there was a trailer. He'd never suggested she leave stuff there. Well, to be fair, he'd rarely suggested she even go out there, not after he had become more serious about his cabin idea.

It had been a while since she'd visited, and as she pulled up to the lot now, she took it all in. On one side was his trailer and on the other was his truck. In between, stood the frame of the cabin and Owen on a ladder working away on the roof. She could see that the small fire pit he'd been using had been built up, with a couple of big logs placed strategically for sitting. The thought of who else may have been sitting out there with him crossed her mind, but she pushed it away. There were stacks of wood piled neatly. And on a table, tools were piled up around an incomplete model of the cabin.

It was quiet out there, away from the noise of the cities, with the cabin sitting off a lonely backroad outside the nearby small town. She knew he must have heard her car pull up, but he kept his head down, pounding away at nails.

"Hey, Owen," Claire called out, probably not as loud as needed. But she wasn't sure she really wanted to be there. She didn't have any hopes of the conversation ahead going well. Their last one hadn't and that had been a few weeks ago.

He didn't respond, and as she stepped closer, she could hear him singing to himself. She didn't recognize the tune, but he had a habit of making up his own songs as he went.

" _Oh, Time, she is a freight train chugging_

 _Oh, stalling time is, too_

 _When the light at the end of the tunnel Is growing small behind you_

 _I still love you in the morning"_

"Owen!" This time Claire shouted it out, finally gaining his attention. She watched as he lowered the hammer, and could just barely make out his "Oh, boy" comment before he turned to face her.

"Hey," she smiled shyly up at him. Now that he had acknowledged she was there, the reality of what she'd come to tell him was hitting her. Oh, this was definitely not going to go well.

"Back for more, huh?" Owen raised an eyebrow in question.

Claire refused to engage. So their last conversation hadn't ended well. That didn't mean she was there to fight. "Can I buy you a beer?" she offered instead, focusing on what she knew he liked.

"Did you bring them or do we gotta, like, go somewhere?" Owen quirked an eyebrow, resting his hands on his hips.

They relocated to the bar in the nearby town. Owen had insisted that he'd drive his own truck, saying that he had things to pick up and he might as well do that at the same time. Claire hadn't thought it was worth fighting over. If the conversation went as badly as she thought it might go, she wasn't sure they'd be able to handle being in the same car going back to his cabin.

As they'd entered the bar, Owen had nodded at the bartender, raising two fingers, to which the bartender had nodded in return. Moments after they'd settled in a booth at the side of the room, two bottles of beer appeared before them.

Claire had just looked at him and said, "You come here often?" but Owen had dismissed her with a wave of his hand, distracting her with a question about the drive out.

Somehow, Claire wasn't sure exactly how, they ended up talking about their last conversation, and before she knew it, she was laughing.

"I'm sorry. Seriously? I can't believe you think that you left me!"

"Replay the conversation in your head. You said, 'You wanna go live in your van, like a bum? Go ahead, Owen.' And I said, 'Okay.'" Owen was looking at Claire intently. He wasn't laughing, and it caused her own laughter to stop.

"So, how is that you leaving me?" Claire questioned.

"Because I left. I. Left. You," Owen insisted.

"You left because I told you to," Claire rolled her eyes.

"And then, I left. Because you didn't wanna live in a van on the side of the road," Owen replied.

"No. No, no, no," Claire shook her head. That's not how it happened, or not how _she_ thought it had happened, at least.

"Remember?"

"Because you wouldn't let me drive the damn van for five minutes," Claire insisted, leaning forward across the table.

"I'm chivalrous. What can I do?" Owen leaned back in his chair, smug grin back on his face as he gave a shrug.

"You are so stubborn." Claire shook her head.

"Well, look at you. You're saving the world," Owen gave her a nod, a proud smile flickering across his face before disappearing.

"I'm trying, at least. You can't just run away from everything, Owen." Claire sighed.

"So you're what… Dating an accountant now? An insurance actuary? Your skin looks nice," Owen gave her a glance over, nodding to himself. "Dermatologist?"

"Owen…" Claire groaned. Outwardly, she worked hard to keep her expression relaxed. Like she was taking it all as a joke. But inside… Inside she was panicking. Did he really think she was dating other people? Did that mean they _had_ broken up? Or was this another facet of their undefined relationship – you can't break up something that had never existed in the first place. Oh god, did that mean _he_ was dating other people? She could feel the blood starting to drain from her face.

"Does he check you for moles?" Owen gave her a cheeky grin.

"Stop." The command was both for Owen and herself. She needed her brain to stop going down the path it was travelling. She didn't want to think of him with someone else. What if he didn't want her stuff in the RV because _another_ woman's stuff was there?

"A ventriloquist?"

"This is not why we're here, okay?" Claire rested her elbows on the table, her fingers rubbing at her temples. She was going to give herself a migraine at this rate. She just needed to get through this conversation. Tell him what she came here to say and then get the hell out of there.

"Fine, why are we here?" Owen took a sip of his beer, giving her his full attention.

"Something's going on," Claire stated. Off of Owen's confused look, she elaborated. "On the island – Nublar. I had a … I got a call that Benjamin Lockwood wanted to see me. I went up there about a week ago. I had a nice conversation with him, but I had a … weird one with the guy who runs his foundation, Eli Mills."

"Lockwood's little flunky," Owen nodded. "Yeah, I know him."

Claire looked a little surprised at that, but continued on. "I left the meeting feeling like something was … off. I don't think he was telling me the truth. Or the whole truth. I think people have been back on Nublar. There have been other signs, Lowery found a picture…"

"So? That's not your problem."

"The whole point of the DPG is to _protect_ the dinosaurs," Claire rolled her eyes. "We need to know what's going on there."

"How are yo–" Owen cut himself off, eyes widening, as he leaned across the table towards her. "Tell me you're not."

"I'm going."

"Don't."

"I don't have a choice."

"What? Of course you have a choice."

"So, what, I should just build my own cabin, play pool, and drink beer all day while these dinosaurs go extinct?" Claire looked at him, exasperated.

"Yeah," Owen shrugged. "I like pool." He leaned back casually, taking another sip of his beer.

"Blue is alive," Claire stated.

"Jesus, Claire!" Owen slammed the bottle onto the table, glad he'd swallowed before she said anything.

"You raised her, Owen. You spent years of your life working with her. You're just gonna let her die?" Claire pleaded with him.

"Well, yeah," Owen looked at her like she was insane. And, to be honest, she must be, somewhat anyway. Who else would voluntarily go back to that island? She almost missed it, the way he could barely swallow after he said that, like there was a lump in his throat.

"Come on, you're a better man than you think you are," Claire sighed, fiddling with her beer bottle, pulling at the label.

"You should write fortune cookies," Owen quipped, falling back on jokes.

"Forget it, I … We're leaving on a charter flight tomorrow morning. I … I don't know what's going on with us Owen, but I… I just wanted you to know." Claire stood up, throwing some bills on the table to cover the beer. She hesitated, but only for a second, before walking out of the bar.

Owen remained seated at the table, his own fingers now peeling back the label on his beer. He had to fight the urge to pick it up and throw it across the room. "God dammit!"

x x x

He had wanted to get drunk. He had wanted to sit in the bar and have the beers just keep on coming. If he was black out drunk he wouldn't have to think about anything. Instead, he could pass out and by the time he'd wake up tomorrow morning, it'd be too late. She'd be gone. He had really really wanted to.

But he didn't. If he got drunk, he'd need someone else to drive him home as it was too far to walk. And then he'd have to deal with all the questions, because he'd need them to come get him the following morning so he could get his truck. It was too much work to get drunk at the bar. Instead, he'd slowly finished his one beer before heading out. He'd made sure he had waited long enough that there would be no chance that Claire was still in the parking lot when he left. He couldn't handle another interaction with her, not today.

He'd tried to work when he got home. He really wanted to get the roof done. The cabin was already taking far longer than he'd planned for, and he was weeks behind even though he'd been spending most of his time working on it. He had started by going out to the cabin for weekends, but found his progress was too slow. By the time he got himself sorted and ready to work, it would feel like the weekend was already over. So he'd started coming out for a week at a time.

Owen hadn't realized what was happening at first. He honestly thought he was just going out to work on the cabin. He was constantly in and out of the local hardware store and lumber yard. And the bar – which was also the only decent restaurant in the town. He became a familiar face in the community and he'd started to make friends. Every time he arrived back at the cabin, he could feel the stress that seemed to build up in the city rolling off of him. And then, one day, it hit him – no one here ever asked or talked about the dinosaurs.

He made it a point to never bring up the dinosaurs in any conversation. He didn't want to talk about them. But by nature of being involved in the Jurassic World incident, and then by being essentially glued to Claire's side during the fallout, he'd become front page news alongside her. For a while, it felt like he couldn't look at the newspapers and magazines at checkout stands without seeing himself. People would recognize him on the street or in a store and want to talk or get his autograph or a picture with him. It was overwhelming and he found he just went out less and less trying to avoid it all.

He did have to give Claire credit. If it had been bad for him, it was ten times worse for her. She just seemed to be able to handle it a hell of a lot better than him. When the fallout, or at least the immediate aftermath that they were involved in, started to clear, he'd started talking longingly about his bungalow. About the privacy and quiet and solitude of it. About how much he missed it.

It had actually been her idea that they get away for a bit. That now that they were free to leave the immediate area, they take off and find some of that peace and quiet. He was sure she meant renting a cabin or something. But he'd found an old RV a couple of days later and brought it home. He wasn't sure what her reaction would be, but she'd actually taken it really well. He still couldn't believe that he'd convinced her to live out of it for six months. Six months! They'd travelled all over the place. They'd gone down into Mexico for a bit, before wandering through the states until they ended up in Wisconsin for a couple of weeks. They had stayed just close enough to spend some time with Zach and Gray, but not close enough to for it to be all day everyday. They'd even gone up into Canada for a bit, touring through the Rocky Mountains and out to the west coast. They'd made it a point to ignore the Badlands and Drumheller. They'd had enough dinosaurs.

At some point and somehow, Claire had connected with Zia. Through a message board or Facebook or something. While Claire had not lost her addiction to her phone, Owen would be happy to never have one. She had started talking about the dinosaurs that they left behind. About what was happening to them. Would they still be alive? Were they managing to find enough food? The next thing he knew, she was floating around the idea of starting a nonprofit, a charity, that would be focused on the dinosaurs. That they didn't have anyone looking out for them, and she doubted Masrani Global was going to do anything, unless they came up with a way to make a profit.

As her idea progressed, the Dinosaur Protection Group was formed. Soon, Claire was no longer attached to just her phone. Now she had a laptop and a tablet and all three seemed to always be within arms reach. Claire had started suggesting camping locations because they had wifi, or asking to stop in a coffee shop for a few hours so she could get caught up.

In hindsight, he should've expected that their time in the RV was rapidly coming to an end. That Claire wasn't going to be able to continue to be on the road. She couldn't effectively take on her new mission with only sporadic access. He'd tried to convince her not to place the headquarters in San Francisco. That there were other places, places closer to nature, that would work just as well. She'd told him that they had narrowed it down to three – DC, San Diego and San Francisco. And he'd had to concede, that with that list, San Francisco was his choice, too. When they'd started looking for a place to live, it quickly became apparent that even with the money Claire had saved up and would get from selling her San Diego condo, living directly within San Francisco was too costly. Additionally, Claire was starting up a nonprofit. It wasn't like this job was going to be paying her anywhere close to what she'd made as Operations Manager. When they'd settled on Oakland, Claire had kept talking about the easy access to the mountains, the beach and the redwood forests. He knew she was doing that for him, so he'd tried to be grateful.

The problem was, he'd been loving the freedom that exploring had enabled for them. No deadlines. Nowhere they were required to be. Just him, Claire, and the open road. And Claire? Well, he'd never seen her as relaxed as during those middle months, after she'd finally gotten comfortable with it all, but before the DPG started creeping in. He loved all of Claire, but he missed that Claire the most.

They'd only been in Oakland for a few months when he started to get restless. Claire had been the one who recommended that he take the RV and get out for a bit. She'd even offered to go with him, but that she was limited on time. He'd started to mix going out on his own for longer trips with shorter weekend getaways with her. And then, one day, he'd been exploring the foothills when he'd come across a lot for sale. It was one of those moments where he just knew that was the place for him. The next two days were such a blur as he signed paperwork and sorted it all out. He'd been in such a head-rush over it all, that it wasn't until the final 't' was crossed and 'i' dotted that he realized he hadn't told Claire.

He thought that she'd be excited about it. That she'd see the same potential that he had. A place for the two of them to get away. It was more private and much quieter than the noisy campgrounds they often ended up in. This would really be a place for them. She hadn't been excited. To be fair, she hadn't been not excited, either. But it wasn't the reaction he'd been hoping for.

He didn't even know when it changed, but one day, he realized that they were calling the lot "his" and the condo in Oakland "hers." It had felt like a sucker punch to the gut. He hadn't known how to take it. Was this the beginning of the end? Had he missed some signs along the way?

His weeks at the cabin started to become two weeks and then even longer. He found solace in working out there, and so he had just naturally gravitated towards spending most of his time there. And then, one day, he realized he was living at his lot and just visiting Claire in the city. She hadn't said anything, and so he hadn't said anything in return. And when he'd show up at her place, his stuff was still all there, right where he'd left it. He didn't know how to take it.

Until finally, a few weeks ago, they'd had it out. He couldn't even tell you what started the conversation. He couldn't even tell you what they argued about. All he remembered was the end. Her telling him to go live in his van, and him storming out. He'd been out on his lot ever since.

And they hadn't spoken. Not even a text message. He knew, rationally, that it was just as much on him as it was on her to make the first move. But he was stubborn. And so was she.

He really hadn't expected her to show up today.

And dammit, Claire! Why did she have to want to go back? Why couldn't she see that nothing good came from there. That the island could burn to the ground for all he cared. Too bad the volcano was dormant. He could really use it wiping the island off the face of the planet. Actually, he'd probably be the first one celebrating if that happened.

Except no, he wouldn't. He couldn't even convince himself that he didn't care. The three years he'd spent on Nublar were some of the best years of his life. The raptor project had been like a dream come true. Yes, there were downsides (Hoskins) and things he had to accept that he really didn't want to (military plus dinosaurs was not a good combination in his book). But there had been a lot of positives.

He was the first person to attempt to actually look at the dinosaurs as real intelligent animals, not just things to show off. Sure there were notes from the previous attempts at building the park and the interactions of people like Dr. Alan Grant. And some of the other handlers also talked about training their dinosaurs. But getting a dinosaur to realize that a crane or bell meant food was nothing like what he had done. He was determining their intelligence. And they were (are, if Blue was still alive) intelligent. Highly intelligent. He'd easily go as far as saying much more intelligent than many people he'd ever interacted with.

It wasn't just the dinosaurs. He'd made friends there. And he'd met Claire there. But after everything that happened, it felt like one of those scenarios where you realize too late that for everything it gave you, it was taking something else away.

And so now, as the sun was setting he was standing at the counter in his RV, alternating between watching the sunset, and torturing himself with old videos of the raptors. They were training logs, but sometimes, they felt more like home videos.

Pressing play on the next video, he watched the four baby raptors race around the room, careening into balls and off of each other. "Chow time, it's chow time," he heard himself call out. "Whoa. Whoa. Back up. Back off. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Jeez. Take it easy. Echo. Jeez, there's plenty of food. God, you guys been eating sugar or something? You're hyper today. Okay, okay. Back up. Thank you, Blue." Even now, years after this video had been recorded, watching as Blue commanded all the other raptors into line set something alight in his heart. He could still barely believe what he was seeing.

He watched as Blue screeched at them until they came running, lining up beside her. "Whoa, whoa," he was saying, hand out directing the raptors. Blue chittered at her sisters again, probably admonishing them. He then watched as he turned to face the camera, stating "Did you get that?"

The screen froze on his face as the video ended, the expression of awe plain to see. Owen glared at it before slamming the lid of the laptop shut.

It didn't matter that Blue was still alive. Going to the island wouldn't solve anything. Right?

Bracing his hands on the counter, Owen leaned forward, his head hanging down. He wasn't sure if he was pissed off or grateful that Claire had even told him she was going. If he didn't know… Well, ignorance is bliss, right?

But the thought of _not_ knowing made his stomach churn. The idea of getting a call only to find out something had happened, to find out that she was _there_ , to know that he hadn't been there to protect her, made the bile rise in his throat. He swallowed over the lump in his throat before taking a few deep breaths.

Pushing back from the counter he started hunting around for his phone. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

 _Thanks to those who have left reviews or kudos and have followed or favourited this story. If my planning plays out, it looks like it'll be 17 chapters (including prologue and epilogue)._

 _ **If you've got a moment, I'm always interested in hearing what you have to say. And if you don't feel like you have anything to say, you can even just say "hi" so I know someone read it. :)**_

 _Oh, and semi-random side note. I have spent way too much time analyzing the movie, and Owen's cabin in particular. And it is *TINY.* Using Owen/Pratt as an estimate for size, it looks to be about 27 feet by 15-20 feet so 405 to 540 square feet (and that's if I include what appear to be a front and back porch as part of the interior). Average apartment size in the US is over 700._

 _Add on that it's not built on a foundation and that cabin would also be really really cold in the winter._

 _Also, did anyone notice he randomly has a canoe in it right now? And he's continuing his green energy streak (solar panels in JW, windmill here).  
_


	5. Chapter 4

_I'm so happy you guys are still enjoying this. Thanks to everyone who has left a review or kudos. Here we go - off to Nublar!  
_

 **Chapter 4**

The sun was just edging up over the horizon when Claire parked in the lot adjacent to the small airport. She was still yawning as she climbed out of the car and pulled out her bags from the back seat. She wasn't taking much - just a backpack and a small duffel. The plan was to get into the control room, get things activated, and then get the hell off the island. She knew the longer they stayed, the more likely it was that things could go south.

As she approached the plane, Zia and Lowery were already there and busy arguing away. She knew Zia had offered to drive Lowery to the airport, so she imagined they'd been arguing for well over thirty minutes. Did they never get tired of it?

As she added her duffel to the small stack of bags being loaded into the cargo hold, she listened to Zia trying to convince Lowery that the plane was safe.

"Relax. You're more likely to die riding on a horse than in a plane," Zia argued.

"No, I'm not, because I wouldn't get on a horse. My chances are zero," Lowery was shaking his head in disagreement.

"Planes are the safest way to travel."

"You call this a plane? My cousin has a drone bigger than this," Lowery gestured toward the plane beside them, and Claire took a moment to take a better look herself.

It wasn't a very large plane, but it also wasn't the smallest she'd ever been in. It would comfortably seat 6 passengers. She knew, since she'd been the one to arrange the plane, that they were going to fly to San Diego first to refuel, before flying from there straight to the island. She was really hoping that the small runway on Nublar was going to be in relatively okay condition.

Listening to Lowery, she also knew, that even if it was in good condition (and she wasn't hoping for that much – it had been abandoned for going on three years now) he was not going to be okay with the landing. Oh well, it was better he didn't know what was coming.

Claire was too busy listening to Zia "encourage" Lowery to get on the plane ("Lowery, you wiener, get on the plane") that she didn't even notice Owen until he was standing right beside her.

"What's with Lowery? Nervous flyer?" Owen asked, pulling off his sunglasses and tucking them into his shirt, his words startling Claire.

"Owen!" Claire's exclamation caught the attention of both Zia and Lowery, who turned from the door of the plane to look over at her.

"Owen?" Zia was the first to respond, a knowing grin crossing her face as she hurried over to them. "Hey, glad you're here. Claire didn't say you were coming."

"That's because I didn't ask him to," Claire muttered angrily, not impressed by her friend's enthusiastic welcoming.

"If Owen's coming, does that mean I don't have to go?" Lowery asked, a hopeful look on his face. "I mean, the plan was for only three people to go, right?"

"Suck it up, dude," Zia laughed, clapping Lowery on the back, almost causing him to double over. "You're getting on that plane. Would you really want to put Owen in charge of fixing any technological problems that might arise?"

"Are we about ready to go?" Owen interrupted, just as Lowery was getting ready to protest.

"We?" Claire questioned. " _You_ aren't going anywhere, except back to your cabin."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Owen shrugged. "Might as well let me tag along."

"You're not on the manifest. Besides, how did you even know where to go?"

"Well…" Owen barely even started to glance in Zia's direction before Claire had already whirled around to face her friend.

"I can't believe you," Claire growled. "Why?!"

"Oh, give it up," Zia laughed at her friend. "Like you didn't think he was going to come after you went to tell him."

"I… you… what?" Claire sputtered, before stating firmly, "I most certainly didn't expect him to come." She looked angrily over at him for a moment, where he was standing calmly watching the two, before she lowered her voice and said to Zia, "I only went and told him I was going because you made me."

Owen, being Owen, didn't even pretend like he hadn't heard that. "Seriously, Claire? You were going to go without telling me?" He was looking at her with a combined look of disbelief and hurt. "I can't believe you'd even _think_ about going back to Nublar without saying something."

"Why does it even matter?" Claire turned on him, taking a step forward, finger pointing at his chest. "What's it to you if I go or not?"

"What's it… Are you serious?" A stormy look started to take over his face, as he took a step towards her, his height and build allowing his presence to overshadow her.

The two were too busy caught up in a staring contest, that they didn't even hear Zia tug Lowery away.

"Of course I'm serious," Claire rolled her eyes. She wanted to back up to try exert her own play of strength but his gaze had locked her into place.

He stared at her intently for a few more seconds before he took a step back, his shoulders slumping. "What's happening with us?" Owen asked softly.

Claire deflated just as quickly, her anger leaving as swiftly as it had developed. "I don't know." She shrugged, before giving him a wan smile. "It's been going on for months now, whatever it is. I don't know what happened. One minute, I thought things were great and the next? The next you'd moved out. You tell me what happened."

"I didn't move out," Owen protested, appearing startled and confused. "You told me to leave."

"That's not…" Claire sighed and looked at her feet. "You'd moved out long before that conversation."

"Hey guys?" Zia's voice interrupted them, and they both turned towards the plane where she was leaning out the door. "The pilot says we need to get going to stay on our flight schedule."

"Be right there," Claire called back, before turning back to Owen. "Just go home Owen. You don't need to be here. And I know you don't want to be." Without waiting for an answer, she picked up her backpack and headed towards the plane. There was only a brief pause before she could hear him following her.

"I'm not letting you go back to that island–" Owen started.

"You can't stop me," Claire spun around mid step, hand out to push against his chest. "I'm going."

"I wasn't going to stop you," Owen groaned. "You didn't let me finish. I'm not letting you go back to that island _without me._ "

"I don't need you to protect me," Claire straightened her shoulders. "I can do this on my own."

"Maybe you can," Owen nodded, sliding past her towards the door. "But I can't."

The comment stunned her for a moment, and by the time she started moving again he'd already climbed aboard. "But you're not on the manifest," Claire tried to argue again, as she boarded behind him.

"Add me," Owen snapped, not even glancing her way as he fiddled with his seatbelt in the seat facing Lowery.

"I…" Claire was hunched over slightly in the aisle, as it was too small for her to stand, just staring at him in frustration and unable to feel imposing.

"It's not a problem," Zia interrupted. "He's already on it."

"He's what? I didn't authorize that," Claire turned toward Zia now, her anger shifting targets.

"Of course you did," Zia just smiled up at her friend, ignoring her anger, as she handed over the piece of paper.

Claire looked down at the manifest, where under passengers there were four names listed. Then, she shifted her gaze down to the bottom of the page, eyes resting on her own signature. "How did you…?"

"It's not my fault you don't always read what I ask you to sign," Zia shrugged, laughing at her friend.

Sputtering, Claire dropped into the seat facing Zia that was also, unfortunately, across the aisle from Owen. She did her best to ignore his own chuckling as she shoved her backpack under her seat and put on her seatbelt.

Turning her focus out the side window, she listened as Zia confirmed with the pilot that they were good to go, and then as Owen started chatting with Lowery.

"What's up with you? Don't like planes?" Claire heard him ask.

"Would you ride a thousand-pound horse that's been abused all its life?" Lowery replied, his voice shaky.

"You watched me ride my motorcycle through the jungle with a pack of raptors, what do you think?" Owen replied.

"Right, 'Super Owen,' how could I forget?" Lowery rolled his eyes, causing both Owen and Zia to laugh.

Claire had to turn her head even more, so that no one would catch the smile that briefly flitted across her face, before she settled back on a frown. She was already nervous enough about this trip, and now she was going to have to deal with Owen, too. She was trying hard to not ask the question of whether the trip could get any worse. She knew where they were going. And she knew the answer was quite possibly, quite probably, "yes."

x x x

As the plane came to a stop on Nublar, Lowery pushed past the others to be the first off. Not that anyone was trying to stop him. He had turned so green during the descent, especially once he realized that they were essentially going to land on a field. His hands had a death grip on the armrests, while the other three tried to offer reassurances. Well, two tried to offer reassurances; Zia had just held out an airsickness bag.

Zia was the next off the plane, her eyes searching for dinosaurs, although they hadn't seen any on their descent. Owen had trailed after her, going immediately to the back of the plane to unload their gear. Claire had stopped at the front to talk with the pilot. He was leaving them on the island and heading over to Costa Rica to refuel. He was going to wait there for their call to come pick them up. They weren't sure what the communication situation was going to be like on the island and had prepared with the expectation that nothing would work. So they had a couple of satellite phones between them, as well as their regular cell phones and some radios.

As Claire stepped off the plane, she pulled her phone out, powering it up to see if it could get a signal. After Jurassic World, there had been a few quick trips back to the island. One to try to retrieve any personal belongings for guests and employees. A second to try to retrieve as much data as possible, including data about what went down that day. And a third trip to try to close down as many systems as possible. The third trip had happened after it became clear that the park was not going to reopen. While the island used geothermal power, that didn't mean that lights should just be left on "because." As the long term fate of the island was still up for debate, a fire breaking out because of a gas line that was still pumping and taking down the island was in no one's best interest.

To her disappointment, but not to her surprise, her phone didn't work, continuing to search for a signal for a couple of minutes before giving up and announcing "no signal." She powered it back off, not wanting to waste the battery. It was no use to her unless they managed to get some systems turned back on.

Moving over to Zia and Owen, she helped them quickly unload their few bags of gear, moving them away from the plane. Lowery had collapsed on the ground a few feet away from the plane, and the rest were willing to give him a few moments to compose himself while they sorted everything out.

Once everything was unloaded, she spoke briefly again with the pilot, before they closed the door to the plane and backed away. The pilot carefully turned the plane around, before heading back down the field the way they arrived, taking off into the sky.

Their early start that morning from outside San Francisco had meant that they arrived on the island early in the afternoon. And, after watching the plane disappear, Owen was eager to get everyone moving.

"Come on, come on," he urged them all, strapping his backpack on and picking up another bag. "Let's get moving people."

"What's the rush?" Lowery asked, finally moving over to the rest of the group. He had shed his jacket and had at least lost the green tinge to his expression.

"Do you want to spend the night here?" Owen questioned, to which Lowery immediately shook his head 'no.' "Then we need to get moving. The plane can't land out here in the dark. And we have a ways to go to get to the control building." He paused, turning a curious (and wary) eye on Claire and Zia. "I mean, that _is_ all we're doing, right? Going to the control room and trying to get some systems back online?"

The entire plane ride, _both_ plane rides, Owen had been not so subtly trying to figure out what their plan was, while Claire and Zia had both been rather vague in their answers. "Hoping to see if we can get the system back online," Claire had brushed his concerns aside. "Just interested in the tracking system," Zia had nodded along. He didn't buy their excuses for a second. He didn't believe that Claire would put together an _illegal_ trip all the way to the island just to see if they could turn a computer system back on. And yes, he _knew_ it was illegal. He knew Claire had been trying to get permission for over a year. If she had it, she would have mentioned it, and he was _sure_ the team would be bigger.

Instead, Owen's plan was to just push them to keep moving. _He_ didn't want to be on the island any longer than necessary. And since his way on (and off) the island was with the others, the only way to speed up his own exit was to help them get through whatever it was they were _really_ trying to do as fast as possible.

"You're not in control here," Claire hissed at him, sidling up beside him.

Owen rolled his eyes at the comment, mind transporting him back to the last day they'd been on this island when she'd said the very same thing. "Be my guest, take the lead," he gestured for her to start walking.

Claire huffed, before turning back to the others. "You guys ready?" she asked, and when she received three nods, she started walk. "Okay, our best hope is that we can get to one of the outposts near here. There's one that I think shouldn't be too far. Assuming we can get in, it connects into the tunnel system which will enable us to get to the main control room. The tunnels should be safer to travel than staying out here." At that comment, all four of them swung their heads around, carefully taking in their surroundings.

Owen had a rifle slung over his shoulder and his knife safely sheathed at his back. Zia had also pulled out a rifle when they were unloading bags, and was carrying one herself, but both Claire and Lowery were unarmed.

It was Owen's turn to hiss at Claire, as he turned to her. "Seriously? The three of you planned to come to this island and only _Zia_ is armed? Do you have a deathwish?"

"I _asked_ you to teach me how to shoot," Claire shot back. "You wouldn't."

"Because you don't _need_ to know how to shoot," Owen replied. "You shudder every time I mention going hunting. Besides, I–" He cuts himself off, gaze immediately looking away from her.

"Besides what?" Claire mocked him. "Let me guess, besides _you'll_ always be there so I don't need to know how? Well, look at how well that turned out." She increased her pace, trying to get in front of him.

"Turned out pretty accurately, I'd say," Owen replied from behind her, raising his voice so she could hear. "I'm here, aren't I?"

As he was walking behind her, it was only the slight falter in her step that let him know the words had landed. He grinned to himself, but let it go, gaze continuing to travel the landscape. Knowing that many of the fences had been damaged during the incident and knowing the damage that weather and loose dinosaurs could do on their own, he knew that he had to be ready for anything.

Claire continued to lead them silently, but behind them Lowery and Zia were having their own discussion.

"You've got your bingo card, right?" Lowery asked.

"Right here," Zia pulled it out of her pocket, waving her folded up piece of paper at him. The two of them had made a bet to see who was going to see (and recognize) the most species on the trip. Although they still hadn't decided on what the outcome of the wager would be, besides owing the other _something_.

"I've been thinking about what I want when I win..." Lowery replied.

Owen was annoyed that he was back on this island (and he would disagree _strongly_ with anyone who said he only had himself to blame), but he couldn't deny that there was a part of him that was hoping to see Blue. He had one of his vests' pockets already packed full of her favourite treat. And, if he was going to be back here, he'd rather be coming on his terms (or what was, at least, close to that) than being dragged back here because he found out that Claire had gone missing or something else bad had gone down here. This way, he has some semblance of control, no matter what Claire said.

* * *

 _Thanks so much for reading. I'd love to hear what you think - drop me a quick message in the box below. :)_


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The walk to the nearest outpost ended up being uneventful, to the relief of Lowery, Owen and Claire. It was to the somewhat dismay of Zia, who complained as they reached it that she'd been on the island for over an hour now and had still yet to see a single dinosaur.

Approaching the panel by the door, Claire knew this was going to be their first test. If the power had been completely shut down, then the electronic locks on the doors would no longer work, which would mean that even Lowery trying to regain access into their system would be all for naught. No power would mean the end of the adventure before it had even started. She was really hoping on, _betting on_ , the fact that those who shut stuff down would've wanted to make it possible to come back later. Or at least, not as hard as they could make it.

Also, if she, Zia and Lowery were right, if others had been back on the island recently, there was also a good chance that parts of the system had already been turned on again. That they weren't the first to attempt what they were about to do. Not that she was going to share those thoughts out loud. They'd managed to pretend so far that they were only here to try and get the camera's back up running and to take a look at the tracking system if they could get it online. Although, if she was being honest with herself, she knew Owen wasn't buying it.

"Okay Lowery, let's see what you've got," Claire told him as the two approached the door. Zia and Owen were standing with their backs to them, keeping an eye out in case something had been stalking them all along. The lack of dinosaurs was making Claire concerned that very few had survived the past three years. She really hoped she was wrong and was feeling even more desperate to get the tracking system back online to find out.

Lowery tried pressing the buttons, but there were no signs of life and no blinking lights. He pulled down a hidden panel that uncovered some additional buttons and a slot that looked like it was for a usb cable.

"What are you doing?" Claire asked, as he continued to poke away it.

"Trying to figure out if it's got power," Lowery replied. "I'm not sure if it's just turned off or if it's dead. I'm really hoping it's the former. Thankfully," he reached into his bag and pulled out a small tablet and a usb cable, "I brought this with me. I remember the system we used, so I preloaded the software. If it's just off, this _should_ allow us to start it up again." He plugged in the tablet and then tapped away a couple of times until he brought up a program. "Fingers crossed."

Claire held her breath, waiting to see what would happen, although she wasn't actually sure what to expect. Was the door going to spring open? Or would lights or an alarm go off? In the end, it was pretty anticlimactic. A small light on the panel came on, and Lowery turned to her and asked if she remembered what the code was.

"I think so," Claire nodded. Actually, she wasn't sure she could tell you the numbers, but as she reached out, she tried to rely on muscle memory instead. The way you remembered your garage code more by the pattern - that it starts with a 7 and then you go over two, up one, right one. There was a click and then a hiss, and the door beside them slid open. She let out a deep breath, feeling her shoulders relax a smidge. Step one complete.

"We're in," Lowery called out to the other two, although it was unnecessary, as they had already turned towards the door when they heard it opening. The four hurried inside.

"Should we shut the door?" Zia asked.

"Not yet," Claire shook her head. "There should be a control panel over here. Let's see if we can get the lights and basic systems back online first." She headed towards the left wall, finding the panel where she remembered it. Isla Nublar (and the other islands in the small chain) were not immune to hurricane season. So when Jurassic World was developed, they had created a series of these outposts spread across the island that could work as emergency bunkers. It meant a lot of redundancy in systems, but that had also saved them more than once, when a storm would knock out the systems in one area, and they were able to use others to get it back online faster.

Pulling open the panel, she moved aside to let Lowery take a look. She may know about why these buildings exist and where they were located, but that didn't make her any more capable of actually sorting out the systems.

Lowery spent some time fiddling with the switches and plugging his tablet back in. It took longer than getting the door open, but soon lights started flickering on around them. "You can shut the door now," Lowery nodded to Zia and Owen who were still hovering in the doorway. "The basic systems are back online. Mainly the lights and the air filtering system. We need that if we're going to spend any time in the tunnels. I've left the rest of it for now – it'll be easier to work with from the control room."

With another hiss, the door slid shut, locking them inside the bunker. For a moment, there was silence, and then Zia started laughing. "You'd think we were all in a horror movie or something," she managed to get out. It did break the tension, and the four relaxed marginally.

It was Owen who got them moving again, shuffling them off towards the door to the tunnel.

"Why does this feel so creepy?" Lowery asked, as they wandered down the long tunnel. "I mean, we walked these tunnels for _years_ and I never thought of them as creepy before."

"It's too quiet," Claire supplied. "It doesn't feel right without other people walking and talking around us. There was always a … I don't know, hum, I guess. That sound of people working or going to work."

"Just be glad we have the lights on," Owen grumbled. He was finding it hard to figure out how to fit in with the group. It was clear that Claire, Zia and Lowery had all developed a good friendship over their time at the DPG. The moment when Lowery had to unlock Paddock Nine seemed to have shifted something in his relationship with Claire. That, combined with both being highly involved in the fallout of Jurassic World, and they had ended up bonding. Even though Owen had been there during that time, he hadn't developed the same relationship with Lowery. He figured it was sort of how most partners feel when they meet their significant others' coworkers. There's a bond they just don't quite understand. And Zia, with her sarcastic personality and quick wit had fit right in with Lowery. While Claire had come up with the idea for the DPG, it was through the encouragement and backing from Zia and Lowery that she'd actually followed through. All three thought of the nonprofit as their baby.

As they continued through the tunnels, Owen found himself straining to listen for sounds other than the three talking beside him. He was realistic – there was a better than good chance that dinosaurs had got into the buildings since the island had been abandoned. It would be easy enough for the big ones to crash through walls, and the smaller ones, like the compys, were lithe and could easily enter through small cracks. And, of course, there were rats and lizards and other animals native to the island that were likely to get in. He'd seen evidence of rat poop beside the wall in a few places, but he hadn't mentioned it. Rats were the least of their worries.

He breathed out a sigh of relief as they exited the tunnels into the main control building. Claire and Lowery eagerly started forward, looking excited to be close to their former haunting grounds.

"Wait," Owen called out, stopping by a closed door. "I wonder what the ACU left behind. Claire, can you get us in here?"

Claire stepped forward with a nod, pulling her backpack off her back and digging into one of the smaller front pockets. "Yep, just a sec. Assuming the basic systems re-activated all the door locks…" She trailed off as she pulled out her old ID badge from her bag. The ID badges had embedded RFID chips that were used to give employees access to the various employee only areas. Holding her card up to the panel by the door, there was a short beep, and then a green LED lit up and they could hear the lock disengage.

Owen pushed at the door, flicking on the light switch as he entered the room. The ACU had various armoury posts around the island, but this was their main one. He was betting that most of it had been cleaned out during the few trips back to the island post incident, but with the lack of firepower between the four of them, he was hoping that they might end up lucky. He quickly started pulling open drawers and cupboards, rifling through the contents.

"What are you looking for?" Lowery asked, following him into the room.

"Anything that might be useful," Owen shrugged.

Zia, Claire and Lowery all picked different areas of the room, and for a few minutes there was just the sound of drawers being open and items being shuffled around.

"Found something," Lowery was the first to respond, turning to face the others. He held up a bunch of watches clutched in his hand.

"What are those?" Zia asked.

"The ACU used to wear special smart watches," Lowery explained. "It allowed us up in the control room to track their location as well as specifics like heart rate and body temp." He looked around at the others and then shrugged. "Might be useful."

"Good idea," Owen agreed, grabbing one from Lowery and slipping it onto his left wrist (his own watch on his right). He turned back to shuffling through the cabinets as the others also collected watches from Lowery.

A moment later it's Owen's turn to give out an "ah ha!" He was standing in front of a gun locker. It was mostly empty, but there were a couple of tranq rifles left as well as a few boxes of tranq darts. He pulled out the two guns, slipping the strap of one over his shoulder so it rested against his rifle. He looked at other for a moment before holding out to Claire. "Here, you should have a gun too."

"Hey, what about me?" Lowery asked as Claire accepted the rifle.

"I've seen you trying to walk and chew gum," Zia laughed, "No one in their right mind would hand you a gun. We don't want to be shot."

Lowery looked ready to argue, but he took a look at their faces before he sighed and conceded.

"Here," Owen reached out to Lowery, handing over a knife he found. "I _think_ we can trust you with this."

There was a moment where Owen had to bite his lip to keep from laughing and also restrain himself from grabbing the knife back, as Lowery almost dropped it, as he tried to figure out how to hook it to his belt loop. Thankfully, it was sheathed, and no one was hurt.

Owen grabbed the few boxes of tranq darts and split them between himself and Claire, both of them packing them into their bags. He then moved over beside her, and pulled the rifle off her shoulder carefully, and started to give her a quick lesson. He wasn't worried about her ability to shoot – he'd seen her shoot a _Pteranodon_ before. He just wanted to make sure she was clear on how to use the safety and how to load the darts. By the time he was satisfied with his quick lesson, Zia and Lowery had finished going through the remainder of the room. They hadn't found anything else worth taking.

After giving a last quick glance around, the four headed back out into the hallway and headed directly for the control room.

x x x

Entering the control room felt like stepping back into a previous life. Claire had spent a good chunk of every day in that room, checking in on the park's status and dealing with any incidents. She paused just over the threshold, memories washing over her like a tidal wave. Everything about the room now felt wrong. It was too dark and too quiet. While normally the main lights in the room were set on dim, the giant wall of screens more than made up for it, combined with all the light from the monitors at each workstation. Snapping out of her daze, she watched as Lowery headed straight for his old desk, like it was just an ordinary work day.

"It'll just take me a moment," Lowery said distractedly to everyone else, hands already placed on his keyboard, his screen coming to life before him. The other three just hung back, watching as his hands flew across the keys. Slowly the screens in front of them flickered on, the displays cycling through the startup screens. Eventually, it was like staring at a giant Windows desktop.

"Pulling up the map now," Lowery announced, clicking a few more keys. Soon the generic background was replaced by a giant map of the island. Red alarms were flickering all across the map, making it hard to make anything out, as it seemed like the whole island was was one giant alarm. "Give me a minute," Lowery raised a hand, as if predicting Claire's comment that was about to come. "Let me turn off most of the monitoring systems."

"Let's focus on the tracking systems first," Claire asked, stepping towards Lowery until she was standing at his side. "We're not here to fix any of the broken fences, so I don't care about those. I _would_ like to also check into the video feeds, though."

Owen and Zia also moved forward, watching as the map slowly cleared of the blinking alarms. Soon, instead, there were a couple hundred dots spread across the map. About a third of the dots were red, while the rest were green.

"Red vs green… dead vs alive?" Zia asked.

"Probably," Lowery nodded. "More accurately it's working vs not working. The _Stygimoloch_ and _Pachysaurus_ were known for shorting out their trackers."

"What about the _Mosasaurus_?" Owen was staring at the lagoon on the screen. There was neither a red nor green dot over the area.

"The _Mosasaurus_ didn't have a tracker," Claire answered. "The lagoon doesn't connect to the ocean and it can't survive on land. I'm 99.9% sure it's dead."

"Not 100?" Lowery looked at her in surprise.

"I _want_ to say 100, but," Claire shrugged, "being overconfident didn't serve us well last time. She's had no one feeding her for years now. And the fish population was never all that high in that lagoon to start with. Unless she found an alternate food source..."

"I say we just avoid the lagoon," Owen suggested. "There's no reason for us to go down there anyway." The others nodded in agreement. "Hey, can you pull up Blue?"

"Sure," Lowery replied. "I just need the species code."

"D9." Both Claire and Owen replied in unison. Their eyes shot towards each other, both trapped in the others gaze for a long moment. A soft "ahem" from Lowery had them turning back to the screens.

With a few taps, most of the dots had disappeared, leaving only four on the screen; three red and one green. Two of the red dots were along main street – a reminder of their final battle with the _Indominus_. The other red dot is off in a wooded area about halfway between Paddock 11 and main street. The green dot, the dot all four were focused on, looked to be part way up Mt. Sibo.

"What's she doing on the mountain?" Claire asked, surprised.

"I'm not sure," Owen also looked confused by the placement. There was nothing known about raptors that indicated that would be their preferred territory. "Lowery, what kind of information do we have on her? Like, is it only her present location? Or is there any sort of historical data?"

"The trackers can store data for about a week," Lowery nodded. "It just keeps overwriting the oldest information when it runs out of space. Let me pull it up."

Soon they were watching the dot move about. Except it never went far, generally hovering around the same location it first pinged on.

"Does that seem normal?" Lowery asked. "I mean, I can check the data but…"

"No, not normal," Owen shook his head. "Something's wrong."

"With the data?" Claire asked, directing her question at both Lowery and Owen.

"No, I don't think so," Owen replied. "I think she might be injured." Owen started sorting through his bag before checking the pockets of his vest, shifting some items around. "I'm going to go check on her."

"Wait! You're going to do what?" Claire was glad it was Lowery who asked that with surprise, so she didn't have to. "Are you crazy?"

"We came all the way here," Owen shrugged. "Besides, it's not like you guys are telling me the full truth about what we're here to do. I might as well do something for myself." Satisfied with the contents of his vest, he dropped his bag to the floor.

"Wait a second," Claire reached out to rest a hand on his arm. "It's not like we're just wandering out among the dinosaurs."

"The tracking system is back up," Owen gestured at the screen. "You guys can help me avoid most of them." He turned towards Lowery. "Can you make sure our watches are working?"

Lowery spared a quick glance at Claire before bringing up the screen for the ACU watches on his local monitor. "Sure. Let me know what number is on your watch, and I'll update the names in here too." The other three quickly fed Lowery the information, and soon alongside the map on the main screen are rectangles showing their heart rates and names. A moment later, four blue dots show up on the map too, clustered tightly together. "Okay, looks like everything is working," Lowery said.

"Thanks," Owen nodded. He turned to Claire. "You said you brought some radios, right?"

Claire nodded, already reaching for her bag. Pulling two out, she handed one over.

"Perfect. I'll be on channel 4," Owen clipped the radio to his belt, adjusting the channel on top. Claire followed suit, turning hers on and placing it on the desk. "Let me know if you think I'm about to run into something."

"Wait!" It was Zia's turn to speak up, and as they all turn to her where they realize she'd been preparing to go to as well. While Owen was leaving his backpack behind, Zia had her's on. "I'm going with you."

"What? No! You should stay here," Owen disagreed.

"You said it yourself, you think she's injured. You'll need me," Zia argued. "I'm a vet, I can help." She hefted her rifle, slinging it over her shoulder with confidence. "Once a Marine, always a Marine. I can handle myself. Trust me."

"Fine," Owen ground out. He turned back to Claire and Lowery. "But you two… You two need to stay _right here_. I want you to lock that door behind us when we go. We'll come back here, you guys don't come to us."

Lowery nodded in agreement right away, but Claire just held Owen's gaze for a moment, before looking away, not promising anything.

"Hey Owen," Claire said a moment later, bringer her gaze back to meet his again. "Be careful."

She gave him a small smile which he returned, before he said flippantly, "You know me, I'm always careful."

"I _do_ know you, that's why I'm reminding you," Claire rolled her eyes. She looked over at Zia. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Zia just grinned at her friend, her eyes wide as she said, "I'm finally going to see a dinosaur!" She turned to Lowery and stuck out her tongue. "Take that - my card is going to fill up fast."

"We're about to get the camera's back online," Lowery replied with his own grin. "I bet I'll see every species before you even make it to Blue."

"Camera's don't count," Zia shook her head.

"Oh yeah?" Lowery countered. "I never agreed to that."

Before Zia had a chance to get into a debate, Owen tugged on her arm. "Let's get going. We only have so much time."

"We're not done discussing this," Zia called back as Owen pulled her from the room, shutting the door behind them.

* * *

 _Thanks for reading. I know this wasn't the most exciting chapter of the story, but it is needed to move the story forward. Next chapter - DINOSAURS! See you in a few days. :)_


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

After the door shut behind Owen and Zia, Lowery turned back to his workstation and Claire pulled up a chair, sitting down beside him. "Okay, let's see about those cameras," Claire suggested.

Lowery nodded and started tapping away at his keyboard, accessing a few different programs and changing settings. Soon, the right and left side of the main screen was populated by numerous small boxes, each representing a different potential video feed. About half of them were filled with just static. The half that were providing potential feeds were giving back mixed results. Some were clear, and looking at their feeds was like time traveling back three years before the Jurassic World incident. Others were now obstructed, as plants grew and covered the lens, or the camera had shifted off its original axis and was now pointing mostly at a wall or fence post.

"That's actually better than I hoped," Lowery commented, after he and Claire had taken a couple of minutes to browse through the different feeds.

"Yeah," Claire nodded absently, her gaze caught on a camera out near the _Triceratops_ territory. She could just see at the far reach of the camera an adult triceratops with a baby triceratops following behind it.

Lowery followed her gaze and sighed, "I guess that confirms that picture."

"Yep," Claire said tightly. "Someone's _definitely_ been back on here. I guess the main question now is, what for?"

"And are they still here?" Lowery added, which made Claire whip her head around to face him. "Well, come on. We don't know _when_ that picture was taken. There's nothing to say we're the only humans on the island. It's a big place after all."

"Oh god," Claire rubbed at her temples, feeling a migraine growing. "This was a bad idea, wasn't it? Coming here, I mean."

"Well, yeah, probably," Lowery winced.

"Why did you come? You know I wouldn't have forced you to," Claire asked.

"It's like I said that day, the first park was legit. But," Lowery shrugged, looking away from Claire. "I loved it here. I've always loved the dinosaurs. But I've never seen them really just _be_ before. They've always been an animal in a cage. I guess I just wanted to see them _free_."

Claire was about to ask him another question when the radio on the desk crackled to life. "Hey, guys?" Owen's voice came through. "We found one of the old park jeeps. We're going to take it most of the way to her, it'll save us a lot of time."

"Copy that," Claire replied back. She looked at the map again, finding the two dots that represented Zia and Owen. They were moving faster across the screen now, following along the old roadways. She followed the road they were on along the map, looking ahead to see if any dinosaurs were close by. But, for now anyway, their path looked good. "You're route looks clear, but check in every five minutes and we'll do an update," Claire passed along.

"Copy that," this time it was Zia who responded.

Putting the radio back down, Claire asked Lowery if he could get her set up on the next workstation so she could take control of flipping through the camera feeds.

"Why?"

"I want to see if I can figure out who or when people have been on the island," Claire replied. "I don't really know how this is going to help, but... maybe?"

Lowery nodded and set her up at Vivian's old station. Once she was good, he went back to his desk and started typing away.

"What are you doing?" Claire asked, pausing in her search.

"I want to see if I can get a few other systems online," Lowery replied. "Who knows what might be useful."

x x x

Owen and Zia were able to take the jeep most of the way to Blue's location. They had continued to check in with Claire and Lowery, and aside from passing relatively close by to a herd of _Brachiosaurus_ , they hadn't encountered any other dinosaurs. Owen figured the sound of the jeep was probably actually working in their favour, keeping the smaller dinosaurs away. The herbivores they weren't as worried about (big or small) as they knew unless they pissed them off, they wouldn't be interested in them. They _were_ worried about the carnivores, but the closer they got to Blue the less likely it was that they would run into any others. Carnivores were pretty territorial.

"Okay, we're going to be going by foot now," Owen updated Claire and Lowery. "We don't seem to be too far off." He then turned to Zia, not bothering to press the talk button, as he told her to hang back. As they only had the one radio, they decided that she'd stay within sight range, but as far back as she could. Owen wanted a chance to approach Blue one-on-one first.

It took them 15 minutes more to close in on Blue's location, as they were walking slowly and carefully through the jungle. They were trying not to make a lot of noise, while also trying to not sneak up and startle Blue either. It was a fine balance.

Finally, Owen held up a hand in a fist, letting Zia know to stop where she was. He straightened up, walking forward into a small clearing. "Blue?" he questioned, gaze darting about. There was no response. "Come on Blue, I know you're here." This time, there was a rustling coming from his left. Almost before he could swing his head in that direction, Blue jumped out from in front of him, mouth open in a loud screech. Owen was thankful for all his years working with the raptors, as he managed to not even flinch at the sound, just standing up taller, holding one hand out in front of him, the other pulling his clicker from a vest pocket. "Hey girl, it's so nice to see you," he sweet talked the dinosaur, who was now staring at him, head tilted to the side. When Blue took a step forward, Owen shook his head, clicking the clicker a few times. "Stop. Stay right there Blue." Blue moved forward again, and Owen's tone became more forceful. "Blue! Stop it!"

Blue backed up a step, chittering away at him. It was not the first time that Owen had wished he could speak raptor. It had been clear to him from the first moment he laid eyes on the baby raptors that they had a complex language. The way they would look at each other and appear to have these long debates; trilling, screeching and chittering away. And the body language – their body language was so expressive.

"Good girl," Owen gave her a big smile. He lowered his hand, reaching into his vest pocket, and pulling out a piece of jerky. "Look what I brought you. Your favourite!" He held it up in the air and Blue tilted her head looking at it, before looking off to his right. "Oh come on, you love this," Owen tried to persuade her, dangling the treat. Blue glanced back at him, and he tossed the treat to her, but it just bounced off her snout as she rejected it. Instead, her gaze went back to his right, her head tilted like she was listening for something.

"Zia?" Owen asked cautiously, also looking where Blue was. But there's no reply, and he hadn't heard her moving. He found it doubtful that she would approach when he hadn't given the signal yet.

For a moment, it was as if time froze, with both Owen and Blue staring off at a clump of bushes, before it raced forward in double time. There was the slight sound of something whizzing through the air, before Blue roared, a tranq dart sticking out of the side of her neck.

"Zia?" This time Owen's call was in surprise. He didn't think she had a tranq gun.

But before Zia could even say something, Blue had charged towards the bushes. At the same time, a few men were emerging, and Blue jumped on one. There was a cry of pain, before one man called out "Don't shoot her!"

Owen felt like he was spinning, trying to track what was going on, his gaze jumping from Blue to the other few men and back again. He vaguely heard Zia call his name as she emerged from the bushes behind him.

Then there was a loud shot and Blue stumbled, before finally falling to the ground, still.

Owen had the rifle off his back, the _real_ rifle, not the tranq one, in half a second, and he moved himself in front of Blue, facing the men. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Owen roared. "And who the _hell_ are you?"

"That's none of your business," the balding older man, the one who appeared to be in charge, stated calmly. "Thanks for your help, though."

"Help?" Owen looked at them blankly, grip tightening around the trigger.

"We've been trying to track her down for _days_ now," the man nodded at Blue.

"Let go of me," Zia's cry caused both men to look towards her. Another male had her in his grip.

"If you don't let her go..." Owen said angrily, raising his rifle threateningly.

"Oh, I don't have time for this," the bald man replied, lifting his own gun back up and shooting Owen with a tranq dart. Unlike Blue, Owen only managed to stay stunned for a couple of seconds before he hit the ground, out.

"Owen!" Zia cried out, finally breaking free from the other man's hold, racing towards her friend. She dropped to her knees beside him, pulling the tranq from his chest. She looks at the dart, and was happy to see that it appeared that very little of the tranq actually made it into Owen. Thank god for leather vests.

She stood up, pulling her own rifle off and swinging around to face the men. "Back away or I'll shoot."

"Really?" the group leader complained. "I just shot your friend, you don't think I'll manage to shoot you first?"

"Who are you?" Zia demanded.

"Like I told your friend, none of your business. Now, step aside, unless you want to be shot, too."

Zia held her ground for another couple of seconds, before letting her rifle dip down. She turned back to look at Owen, before moving her gaze past him to look at Blue. "I hope you've got medical supplies with you," she told the guys who were closing in on Blue. "She's going to die if you don't stop the bleeding."

"Dammit, Bill, I _told_ you not to shoot her!"

"I can help," Zia offered.

"You?" The bald man looked at her with disbelief.

"I'm a paleo-vet. This is my job," Zia rolled her eyes. She pulled her backpack off her back and started rummaging within it, pulling out gauze and other supplies. "Let me at her."

There was a moment of hesitation on their part, before the men parted ways and allowed Zia access. As she fell to her knees beside Blue, she reached out with the gauze to start clearing the blood so she could examine the wound. The watch on her wrist as she moved her arm caught her attention. Claire and Lowery! Hopefully they were aware something had happened.

"I don't know what your plans are, but I'm not going to be able to save her here. I need to be able to get the bullet out. And she might need a transfusion." Zia let them know, pushing down hard on the gauze, hoping to stop or at least decrease the blood loss.

"We just need her well enough to transport," the bald guy shrugged. "Do whatever you need for that."

"You're not listening to me," Zia shook her head. "Until I can get the bullet out and stitch her up, she's not going to survive without me. If you're taking her somewhere," Zia paused to take a deep breath, before pushing ahead with what she knew was probably a stupid plan. "If you're taking her somewhere, you need to take me with you."

x x x

Both Lowery and Claire were too busy with their tasks to notice when Zia and Owen's dots stopped moving. They had known they were close, but Owen had asked them to hold off using the radio unless it was an emergency. He didn't want the radios to spook Blue.

As there were no cameras out near the location, besides staring at some blue dots on the map, there wasn't much they could do. So, they had both turned back to their own monitors, Claire still examining the various video feeds while Lowery typed away trying to access other systems and see what he could get into.

"Whoa," Lowery pushed away from his desk slowly, his chair rolling back a foot.

"What's up?" Claire looked up from her own monitor, turning to look at him.

"I think," Lowery took a deep breath. "I _think_ someone else is in the system."

"In the system? What do you mean?" Claire wheeled her chair closer to Lowery who had moved back to his desk.

"I've been poking around, seeing what information is still accessible. I was hoping that maybe something would give us a clue about who's been here. To be honest, I wasn't sure _what_ I might find, and actually expected to find nothing. But," Lowery pointed at the screen, "look at the dates. They're recent. Someone's been _opening and modifying_ _files_ _this past week_!"

"Wait, how is that possible?" Claire stared at the screen intently, as if she looked hard enough the dates would change. "I mean, is it possible that someone's off island and is accessing this?"

"No," Lowery shook his head. "I've been trying to see if I can get the cell towers back online, so we'd at least have limited access to the internet. But I've had no luck. That's the only option right now. The only way they could've been accessed–"

"–Is if someone was on island," Claire finished for him slowly. They both turned and looked at the door behind them. The _unlocked_ door behind them. "Um, do we know if they're on the island right _now_?" Claire asked, her voice coming out almost in a squeak.

She'd barely finished talking when the two of them had jumped out of their chairs, racing for the door to try to lock it. In the end, they pulled a heavy table in front, and some chairs in front of that. At the very least, they'd have warning if someone tried to enter.

They were just calming down, heart rates returning to normal, when an alarm started beeping on the main screen.

"Oh what now?" Claire groaned, turning to look. She didn't see the alarm at first, expecting it to be on the map. It took her a moment to realize that it was the heart rate monitor for Owen that was flashing as his heart rate had suddenly fallen.

Claire grabbed for the radio, fearing the worst. "Owen? Zia?" she called into it. Silence greeted them. "Owen?" She called again, her voice starting to get tinged with anger. "Is anyone there? Can anyone copy? Somebody _answer me_! What is happening?" She was practically screaming into the radio, but there was still silence.

"Oh god," Lowery was pacing the floor now. This was too much like that day. Watching the ACU team go out, and then one by one the heart rates flatlining. "Not again. This can't be happening. Not again."

Claire's eyes were glued to the screen, watching Owen's heart rate tracker. It was continuing to thump along. It was steady, just slow. "I don't get it, if Blue attacked him," Claire said slowly, because that's where her mind had gone, "Shouldn't it be racing? Or…" She didn't bother with the alternative, feeling a lump rise in her throat. What had she done? She shouldn't have allowed Owen to come. She reached for the radio again, desperately pleading for him to answer, but there was still no response.

"Wait, what's happening now?" Lowery asked, pausing his pacing as the dots on the map caught his attention. "Whose dots are those?" It was a rhetorical question, as he was already back in his seat typing away. On the screen, where they knew Blue was located, there had been three dots clumped together. However, now two dots were moving steadily away, towards the East side of the island.

"Where are they going?" Claire asked, having expected the dots to be heading back for where they had left the jeep.

"It's Zia and Blue," Lowery stated, looking away from his monitor and back up at the dots on the screen. "That doesn't make any sense. Zia's heart rate is fine. How would she get Blue to go with her?"

"Why would she leave Owen?" Claire asked, eyes still focused on the moving dots. "What's over on the East side of the island?" She continued, before answering herself. "The docks! But, why would Zia be going there? And how is she transporting Blue?"

"How would she even know how to get to the docks?" Lowery asked. He looked back over at Owen's heart rate data, which was continuing to thump at its steady, slow pace. "I think we may have an answer as to whether we're alone on the island."

"Why would they leave Owen?" Claire was alternating between looking at his heart rate data and the dot representing him.

"Maybe they don't know he's alive?" Lowery winced as he said it, but gave a shrug when Claire looked at him. Even as her heart clenched, she found she didn't disagree.

"I...we need to go to him," Claire managed to sound firm and tough. Even if she didn't feel that way inside. "We can't leave him out there."

"He told us not to move," Lowery reminded her.

"Yeah, well, that was before something happened to him," Claire dismissed his concerns. "We've got a tranq gun and we'll find a jeep. But… how are we going to find him?" Claire paused, her plans feeling like they were about to fall apart. The island wasn't small, and Zia and Owen had walked for a while away from the jeep.

"With this!" Lowery held up his tablet. "I need a few minutes, but I should be able to get it to pick up the tracking signals. I wasn't able to get any of the off island internet working, but I did get the intranet up."

Lowery immediately plugged in his tablet, setting it up, while Claire packed away all their belongings. She didn't know what their plan would be once they reached Owen, but she didn't want to assume they'd be coming back to the control room. After packing the bags, she pulled up the feed for the East Dock, taking in the few boats that were bobbing in the water. She had looked at the feed earlier, and it didn't look any different now. But boats were boats. She had assumed all of the ones left had been abandoned. And the quality of the security feed wasn't making it any easier to examine their condition.

Once Lowery was ready, they shut down most of the systems again, before moving the barricade away from the door. Taking a deep breath, they pushed it open and stepped out.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed to date. Especially my loyal reviewers - Shian1998, Elise-Collier (also an amazing beta), Claire-Grady143, ShanteRenee, Camazotz, Nadin, and MissFit.

I read each and every review and while I've been struggling with this story, I'm happy to say that I'm finally making progress again.

Oh, and if you haven't, check out my new collection of one shots (only one so far) called **Snapshots**. They take place in my Full Circle universe and will likely be mostly fluff for a change.


	8. Chapter 7

_As always, thanks to those who have reviewed this story._

 **Chapter 7**

Tracking down a jeep turned out to be easy enough, and it didn't take long before they were bumping along the jungle road. Claire was driving while Lowery used the tablet to direct them and keep an eye on dinosaur locations.

Similarly to Zia and Owen, they had an uneventful trip across the island, and soon they were pulling up beside the jeep that Owen and Zia must have taken. They parked beside it, choosing to carry forward on foot as well. They couldn't be sure, that if there _were_ others on the island, that none of them had stayed behind with Owen. Although, they weren't going to be much of a surprise if anyone _had_ stayed, as they weren't being all that quiet as they trudged through the tall, overgrown plants.

They moved much faster than Owen and Zia had, and it took them less than 10 minutes before they were entering the same small clearing where Owen had found Blue. Except instead of a raptor, they found Owen unconscious on the ground.

Claire raced to his side, dropping down onto her knees, as she reached out tentatively for him, resting a hand gently on his chest, feeling it rise and fall. She was so glad the heart rate monitor had told her he was alive, because looking at him as they had entered the clearing that wouldn't have been her first thought. She looked him over carefully but couldn't see anything obviously wrong with him; no blood, no teeth marks. Nothing that would indicate a raptor attack.

"Owen?" Claire called out softly, the hand that wasn't on his chest combing through his hair. Now that she was there, and knowing that he was alive and not obviously injured, she was realizing that he looked as if he was asleep. "Owen, can you wake up?" She asked, hand brushing down the side of his face, before moving back through his hair. There was a slight groan from him, but nothing else.

"What's wrong with him?" Lowery asked, dropping down on his other side. "He doesn't look hurt."

"I don't know," Claire replied. The hand on his chest crept higher, resting over his heart, where she could feel it steadily thumping along. She brought her other hand down, shaking him gently as she called out this time. "Owen! Wake up!" Another groan, but still no movement. She shook him harder, pressing down accidentally on his chest, and his eyes popped open briefly as he let out a loud groan.

"Ughgh," Owen mumbled, but he didn't move. His breathing remained shallow and sharply contrasted with Claire nearly gasping for air.

Claire could feel his muscles twitching below her hands, but he wasn't actually moving. "Owen. You need to WAKE UP!" Claire told him loudly. "Come on. Please, wake up!" As tears started to gather in her eyes, a lump formed in her throat. Shaking him more forcefully, his eyes finally opened and looked around dazedly until they settled on her face.

"Claire," he slurred out, eyes locked on hers.

"Owen," Claire let out a sigh of relief. "What happened? Where's Zia? What's wrong?" The questions tumbled out of her while her breathing normalized.

"Claire?" Owen slurred again, his eyes going wide as he tried to move, but his body didn't respond. His eyes darted from side to side, but it didn't change that his body was motionless.

"Owen? What's wrong?"

"Can't move," Owen managed to get out.

"What do you mean you can't move?" Claire cried out, her hands fluttering over him, not sure what to reach for or what to try. In the end, she rested one hand back on his chest, feeling his heart starting to race, as the other reached back up to start combing through his hair again, trying to settle him. "Calm down," she murmured quietly. "It's going to be okay. I'll make sure it's going to be okay." Reflexively, she leaned forward. Her lips on a collision course with his forehead.

"Hey, Claire? Owen?" Lowery interrupted the moment. Claire's head whipped around and both sets of eyes turned toward the voice. "Look what I found." Lowery held up a tranq dart, not unlike the ones they had found in the ACU storage area. Owen's eyes went wide. "Owen, were you hit by one of these?"

"Yeah," Owen replied. He would've added a nod, but he was still finding it impossible to move.

"Well, it's still pretty full," Lowery commented, look at at the dart carefully. "I doubt you got much, which is good, because these have enough to take down a dinosaur." He looked at Owen, still lying prone on the ground. "Well, I guess you probably got enough. But, I think it should start to wear off soon."

"Where's Zia? What happened to Blue?" Claire asked rapid-fire, unable to hold onto one thought at a time. One thing she continued to hold onto, however, was Owen. Her hand had stayed over his heart.

"Shot her," Owen groaned out, closing his eyes briefly.

"Who shot her?" Claire asked at the same time Lowery stuttered, "They shot Zia?!"

"Not Zia," Owen shook his head, pleasantly surprised when it actually _did_ move ever so slightly. "Blue."

"Zia shot Blue?" Lowery looked confused.

"No," Owen groaned. "Men shot Blue. Then me."

"Oh," Lowery replied.

"Wait, men, plural. How many? Do you know where they went? Why Blue? Why would they take Zia?"

"Three. Four. Not sure," Owen looked confused. "Zia's gone?" He started looking around the area as much as he could from where he's lying.

"She and Blue appear to be headed to the east docks," Lowery held up his tablet and pointed out the moving dots so Owen could see.

"Docks. Huh," Owen continued to look confused. He tried to shift again, and this time, he found he could start to wiggle his fingers. "This sucks."

Lowery and Claire didn't feel strong enough to attempt to move Owen and so they settled into more comfortable positions beside him. They were going to need to wait for the tranq to wear off enough for Owen to be able to move on his own. Taking a deep breath, Claire picked her hand up off his chest and grasped one of his hands. To her relief, he squeezed back ever so slightly. A small smile appeared on her face along with a faint blush.

"I wonder where they're going," Lowery was musing aloud, his head still bent over his tablet, watching the dots. They were nearing the East dock now. "I mean, obviously a boat, but…"

Claire had settled cross-legged behind Owen's head. She had helped him (well, really she did it all) lift his head into her lap, and now had one hand unconsciously combing through his hair, trying to keep him calm.

Owen had closed his eyes, resting as he waited for more feeling to return, enjoying the feel of Claire's hand, but not wanting to draw attention to it, as he wasn't sure she was even aware of what she was doing. With his eyes closed, he could pretend they were out on one of their camping adventures, maybe relaxing by a lake. They'd sat like this before, Claire often with her phone or a book in her other hand. It brought back good memories. Memories that roused his senses and gave him motivation to push harder against the paralysis.

His eyes startled open when something wet landed on his forehead. He looked up to see silent tears sliding down Claire's cheeks. He attempted to brush it away and was surprised and grateful when his arm mostly obeyed his command. His movements were sloppy and his hand landed a little too heavily against her cheek. Claire flinched at the contact, her own eyes, which had also been closed, opening in surprise.

"Sorry," Owen grimaced. "I still don't have total control yet." He did, however, manage to brush away her tears. He took a quick glance over at Lowery to confirm he was distracted before he asked softly, "Why are you crying?"

"You could've died," Claire clutched at his hand, holding it against her cheek and letting her head rest against it. "Zia could've died. I never should've told you…"

"Whoa, wait a minute," Owen shook his head. "I'm _glad_ you told me."

"Why? You _wanted_ to get shot? Always been wondering what it felt like to get hit by a tranq gun?" Claire scoffed. "You could be building your cabin right now."

"Claire," Owen sighed, his eyes closing briefly as he thought over his words carefully. "Unless you're saying that _none_ of us should've come–which is something I _do_ agree with–I want to be here."

"Why?" Claire was staring down at him, her gaze searching his as if she could find answers just from his look.

"You're here," Owen replied simply. "This might _suck_ , and it really does, but I'd take this over getting a call…" he trailed off as his mind started offering up hundreds of potential horrible scenarios. And he didn't actually want to voice the one he feared the most, the one where _no_ _one_ knew where they had gone and instead, one day, he finds out she's just _missing_. And probably with a "presumed dead" attached to the phrase. The thought made him shudder visibly.

"I'm so sorry," Claire told him, her other hand leaving his hair, so she could clutch the hand she was holding with both hands, her forehead resting against them. "I'm so sorry."

Shifting, Owen gently tested out his limbs and found that while his fine motor skills may be still lacking, he had basic control again. He moved himself up into a sitting position, as he pulled his hand out of Claire's grasp. She was watching him carefully, eyes cautious. Once he was sitting up and he could look her eye-to-eye, he held her gaze. "Claire…" he realized as he started to talk that he didn't even know what to say. He knew what he wanted. He wanted off this damn island. He wanted them all to be back in California. He wanted to be lying in a hammock, preferably with Claire, listening to the sounds of the birds and having no thoughts about dinosaurs.

He got lucky as a rustling sound from the bushes drew everyone's attention.

"What's that?" Lowery asked nervously, already on his feet.

"You tell me?" Owen asked, struggling to his feet as Claire helped him up. While his mind was clearing up fast, his body still felt drunk, not quite obeying the commands his brain was sending. Or obeying them a little too late.

"The tracking system doesn't show anything…" Lowery trailed off as the bushes rustled again.

"Yeah, well, _something's_ in there," Owen snapped.

"The triceratops!" Claire exclaimed, causing both to look at her in confusion. She quickly clarified. "The baby triceratops. If the animals are breeding, there are dinosaurs here that don't have trackers."

"Um, I think we should probably get going now," Lowery suggested, shifting nervously.

"Agreed," Owen nodded.

"Where are we going?" Claire asked, as the three of them started walking out of the clearing, moving steadily away from the bushes that were still rustling.

"For now? Anywhere but here," Owen replied. The overgrown plants were hiding vines and roots that could be tricky enough to navigate on a good day and Owen was struggling to stay upright, seemingly everything tripping him up right now.

"I think we should aim for the jeep," Lowery suggested, leading the way, his tablet held in front like a map.

"Okay," Claire agreed, sidling up beside Owen. She tucked herself against his side, causing him to drape his arm over her shoulders. Neither she nor he said anything as they continued to stumble forward through the forest.

Reaching the jeeps, Claire and Lowery headed straight for the one they arrived in, as they had left some of their bags behind. Claire led Owen to the passenger side, even though he tried, half-heartedly, to aim for the driver's seat. "Yeah, right," Claire had raised an eyebrow. "Like we're letting you drive in this condition. You'd probably drive us off a cliff." They both knew it was an exaggeration – his coordination was getting better with each passing minute – but he settled into the passenger seat without complaint as Claire climbed in to drive and Lowery plopped into the back.

"Where next?" Claire asked, starting up the jeep.

"We should be phoning the pilot. Get him to come pick us up," Owen suggested. "Best thing we can do is get the hell off this island."

"What about Zia?" Lowery said. "We can't leave her behind."

"Where is she now?" Claire asked, turning in her seat to look at Lowery. He leaned forward, holding the tablet between the front seats so all three could view. "They're at the East dock now. They've been there for maybe 10-15 minutes. Must be getting ready to leave." Zia and Blue's dots are hovering just off the edge of the island. "I think they're already on a boat."

"Well, we're not going to be able to get to the docks before they can leave," Owen reminded them. "And unless you two have figured out where they're going, our best bet is still to contact the pilot to get us out of here."

"They might not be in a rush to leave," Claire suggested. "We found evidence that they've been in the computer system. We might be able to get there before they leave." She was backing up and heading in the direction of the docks before Owen could say anything. She risked a glance over at him. "We have to try."

Owen just sighed, nodding in acceptance. He looked around the vehicle before asking, "What do we have for weapons now? I've still got my knife…"

"I've got my knife," Lowery supplied.

"And we have the one tranq gun," Claire nodded to the backseat, where she'd placed it once they got back.

"We're not very well armed for going up against mercenaries," Owen pointed out. He had woken up to find his two rifles missing. It had been expected, but that didn't make him any happier about it. He assumed he only had his knife because it had been strapped to his back and they hadn't bothered to search him carefully.

"Well, we only had one gun when we went up against the _Indominus_ ," Claire said weakly. "We survived that."

"A gun, 3 raptors and a T-rex," Owen reminded her.

"Do you want me to find the T-rex?" Claire asked. "I'm sure Lowery can locate her for us."

Owen just glared at her in response, not bothering to dignify it with a comment.

They drove in silence for a while, interrupted only occasionally as Lowery updated them as to which dinosaurs were nearby. They had to take a detour at one point to avoid a herd of triceratops, but besides that, the roar of the engine and the use of the tracking seemed to be working in their favour. As they got closer to the docks, Owen finally spoke up again.

"Let's not go storming in there. Where can we go such that we'll be able to get a good view of the area?"

"Um, I don't think it matters," Lowery replied. "Zia and Blue are moving, and it looks like they're headed out to sea."

"Let me see," Owen reached for the tablet, but Lowery just scooted forward again, holding it over the seat back so both of them could see. The two dots were moving away from the edge of the island. "Where are they going?" Owen wondered aloud again.

"If they're headed east, probably Costa Rica," Lowery suggested. "North, or North-East would likely mean back towards the US."

"What about south?" Owen asked.

"South?" Claire stopped the jeep so she could also look at the tablet. "They're going south?"

"That's what it looks like," Owen nodded, tapping a finger on the screen above the dots. The three of them watch the dots for a couple of minutes, and they appeared to be following the coast line to the south, not that they'd gone far yet.

"Maybe they're trying to stay close to the island before they head across?" Lowery wondered. "The tracking isn't going to work once they get farther from the island. Even now, it could also just be the system struggling to figure out where to place them from the data it's getting."

"What should we do?" Claire asked again.

"Let's go down to the docks," Owen said after a moment. "Maybe we can figure out who they are. Maybe they left something behind."

They still decided to park a bit away from the docks and close the gap by foot. Claire remembered seeing more than one boat bobbing beside the dock, and they couldn't be sure if more than one of those belonged to whoever had come over.

Owen led the way, insisting that the other two stay behind him, as he was the only one armed with a gun (having taken the tranq gun away from Claire). Lowery was happy to obey, and Claire had started to argue, but one look at Owen's face had convinced her to stop.

Lowery still had the tablet in his hand and was watching the progress of Blue and Zia. They were still expecting them to stop moving, when the tracking system finally lost their signal, but they had continued to move south, following the shoreline.

At the dock, there was a large bunker, not unlike the first one they had encountered earlier that day, although Claire knew that this one didn't connect to the tunnel system, as the dock was located too far from the main park. Behind the bunker were the actual docks. It was quite elaborate, as it had berths for large ships as well as small slips for smaller boats. As the three of them rounded the bunker, they found two boats left tethered to the dock. One looked to be a fishing boat while the other was a … yacht?

"Wait a second," Claire paused, looking at the boats. "On the feed, I definitely saw that smaller boat, but I couldn't tell that _this_ one was here." She gestured towards the yacht, the name _Jurasship_ , clearly written on the side.

"What's special about that boat?" Owen asked. "I mean, besides the question of how does someone forget about it for three years?" He was staring at the yacht in awe. It must've been over 40 feet long, and he just _knew_ it was expensive.

"It's, I mean, it _was,_ Masrani's," Lowery answered. "He was really proud of that boat… and the name he came up with."

"Yacht," Claire corrected out of habit. "Sorry, he always got on my case when I called it a boat."

"Why's it still here?" Owen asked again. "A yacht like that… it's not going to be cheap."

"His wife _hated_ the thing," Claire replied with a shrug. "She got really bad seasickness. I guess she forgot about it?"

"Wish I had enough money that I could forget about something like _that_ ," Lowery mumbled, and Owen nodded in agreement.

"We might not need the plane after all," Owen said as the three continued to gawk at the yacht. "We could just cruise home in that."

"Steal a boat?" Claire looked shocked and appalled.

"Oh, so _that's_ your line, is it?" Owen joked, coaxing a small smile from her. "I'm not suggesting we _steal_ it, just merely _borrow_ it."

"Weren't we going to try to figure out who those people were?" Claire ignored Owen.

"Right," Owen nodded. "Where's their boat now, Lowery?"

"They're still hugging the coastline and headed south," Lowery said after pulling up the map on his tablet.

"Do you think…" Claire trailed off, shaking her head. "No, that doesn't make sense."

"What?" Lowery asked. "Do you know where they're going?"

"No, well, not for _sure_ anyway," Claire replied. "Just… there's nothing south, unless, well, unless you're trying to go _south-west_."

"Oooh," Lowery looked down at the map slowly, nodding. "Actually, that could make a lot of sense."

"What makes sense?" Owen asked, not following them.

"Sorna," Claire and Lowery replied in unison.

Owen still looked confused, so Claire explained. "Isla Sorna is about 80 miles southwest of here. It's part of chain of five islands called Las Cinco Meurtes."

"The five deaths? Really?" Owen looked disbelieving at them.

"Hey, we didn't name them," Lowery jumped in, holding his hands up in defense.

"Sorna is, or was," Claire continued, "the location of Site B–"

"Oh, I've heard of _Site B_ ," Owen nodded. "Jurassic Park's other research location."

"Right, it's where all the dinosaurs were bred for Jurassic Park. And where the T-rexes that ended up in San Diego came from," Claire paused, looking thoughtful. "There aren't supposed to be any dinosaurs left there. When Masrani started Jurassic World, they moved all those dinosaurs over to Nublar. No point starting completely from scratch."

"So why do you think they might be headed there?"

"Well they're taking Blue _somewhere_. And what better place, _besides right here_ , is there, for a dinosaur? I mean, it's not like most people have an area built that can withstand a dinosaur in their basement. No one's supposedly been on the island in years, but those buildings were built to withstand _dinosaurs_. Hurricanes and the jungle aren't quite as savage."

"It's also _way_ more discrete then trying to bring a dinosaur into the US," Lowery nodded. "Yeah, I totally buy that that's where they're headed. If they continue to hug the shoreline, we should be able to confirm when they turn west."

"We still have no idea _who_ they are…" Claire sighed. She looked down at the docks and then at the building behind them. "They were in the computer system. Let's see if they accessed it here." Claire and Lowery turned and headed towards the bunker. After a few steps, they realized that Owen wasn't following them. Turning back, Claire saw him heading down towards the dock. "Where are you going?" She called out.

"You guys go to the bunker," Owen waved them away. "I'm just going to take a look at the _Jurasship_. Who knows, maybe we can use her." He shrugged, then turned back towards the dock. Claire and Lowery exchanged shrugs of their own before heading into the bunker.

x x x

Owen joined them in the bunker about an hour later. He was wiping his hands on some towel he'd found, and Claire could see a streak of grease on his forehead, where he must have reached up at some point without realizing it. She found herself smiling at the big grin on his face.

"That yacht is _awesome_ ," Owen said, his face glowing. "I'd love to own something like that."

"You have fun?" Claire asked, her gaze sweeping up and down him. "How're you feeling now?'

"I think it's completely worn off," Owen dismissed her concerns. " _Jurasship_ was kept in really good shape. The three years left floating here don't seem to have done much damage. I mean, the upper deck is a bit of a mess, but I think we can use her. You guys have any luck?"

"Nope," Lowery groaned, shaking his head. "I mean, they've definitely been in here. But we can't tell who they are. Just that they don't seem to be all that good with computers, because they weren't able to get the tracking system online. But they did get into a lot of the lab files." Lowery paused, scratching his chin for a second before he tilted his head as he debated something internally. "I think they must have had _some_ knowledge of the system. Our files were pretty siloed, so that people only had access to what they needed. Getting into any of the silos, like lab or tracking, wouldn't be easy on it's own, not without having some first hand knowledge."

There was silence for a few moments while everyone absorbed that, before Claire added, "Oh, and we've confirmed they're headed to Sorna – they've turned west." She looked questioningly at Owen. "If the yacht's in good shape, could we sail it there?"

"We could," Owen replied hesitantly.

"Great. We should get going. We won't be too far behind if we leave now."

"Not tonight," Owen held up a hand. "Look, they've got well over an hour head start, and if it's about 80 miles away, it's going to take us around four hours to get there."

"All the more reason we need to leave now."

"It's going to be dark in a couple of hours," Owen reminded them. "We are much safer, as much as I hate to say this, here then we will be on a boat in the dark. Besides," he shifted uncomfortably, already knowing what he was about to say wasn't going to be well received. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to go after them. We've got pretty much no weapons and we have no idea what will be on that island. I know you often think otherwise, Claire, but I _don't_ have a death wish."

"But Zia–" Claire started.

"I know they've taken Zia, but how does us going there solve anything?" Owen tried to be the voice of reason.

"We can't leave her. And we can't tell anyone else," Claire argued back. "If we don't try to help her, we don't know what they'll do. We're _here_ illegally. If we tell people what we know, _we're_ going to be the ones in trouble. And they left you…" Claire trailed off, feeling a lump in her throat. She swallowed roughly, trying to ignore it. "Owen, they left you and probably thought you were _dead_. What's to say they're not going to…" She couldn't bring herself to say it, but the solemn mood settling over the room made it clear that they all knew what she meant. "Owen… if not us, then who?"

* * *

 _Thanks for reading. It's honestly really discouraging to write when there's very little feedback. Honestly, reviews are the best currency you can pay a fanfic writer, as it let's us know that our piece is being enjoyed and not just being shouted into the void._

 _I write for fun, but I'm also always actively trying to become a better writer. So, whether you enjoyed this chapter or hated it, I'd love to know. Maybe a question about something you're now wondering about? Something you found confusing? Maybe a favourite line or lines? Mine are:_

"A gun, 3 raptors and a T-rex," Owen reminded her.

"Do you want me to find the T-rex?" Claire asked.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

After Zia had convinced the men that they needed her to keep Blue alive, they had rigged a system to carry the raptor, sort of like an elaborate stretcher. She didn't have a lot of faith that the four guys were going to be able to carry her far, but it turned out that they didn't need to. They had led the way through the jungle to the East, a different direction than she and Owen had come from, and not far away they had a vehicle parked with a large trailer attached to the back. She had stumbled along beside them, trying to keep pressure on Blue's wound as she was moved. After they loaded her onto the trailer, she had climbed on the back with Blue, pressing down more firmly. She really hoped wherever they were taking her there would be additional bandages, among other supplies.

She also really hoped that Claire and Lowery knew that something had happened. She had been careful not to look or acknowledge her watch, because she didn't want them to become suspicious and see it as anything special. She also really didn't have any free hands to be fiddling with it; she was using almost all of her weight to put pressure on the wound.

Zia was surprised when they pulled up beside some docks. There were three boats of varying sizes, and they headed for the middle one. It looked like a commercial fishing boat, good for being out in the deep sea. Again, they had used their makeshift stretcher to lift Blue from the trailer to the boat. On the boat, they had obviously come prepared to return with the raptor. There wasn't a cage exactly, but there was a an elevated platform that had a pile of straps criss crossing it. They used them to tie Blue down, and someone found a muzzle that they put on her as well.

"I need gauze, and someone to help me," Zia demanded, once the men seemed happy with their work.

"Why would we help you?" One of the men sneered at her.

"If you want this dinosaur to stay alive," Zia repeated herself for what felt like the millionth time, "then I need some help. Gauze and at least one of you who's not squeamish."

It took them a while to get sorted. One man had gone into a nearby building at one point, but he'd returned with a first aid kit. A _human_ first aid kit, but it was still better than nothing. And Zia had some supplies still in her bag. She managed to convince them that it would be easier and better if they let her work _now_ before they set out, as the choppy seas would make it harder. In the end, she'd managed to remove the bullet and sew up the wound. She relaxed marginally when she was finished–she knew Blue wasn't out of the woods yet.

When they finally pulled away from the docks, the men all left her alone with Blue, seemingly content that she couldn't do anything and the dinosaur was alive. Zia had finally taken the time to look at her watch, but while it appeared capable of many things, she couldn't figure out how to actually use any of them to help her out. She kept her fingers crossed that Lowery and Claire were tracking her and that they'd found Owen.

It was too bad they had searched her and Owen before they had left the clearing. Her radio would've come in really handy now. Unfortunately, they had removed it along with her and Owen's rifles, telling her that she wouldn't need any of it. They had even gone through her entire backpack, but in the end left it with her. Sitting on the platform next to Blue, she pulled out a granola bar, happy to finally have a chance to eat something, while also able to monitor Blue in case her condition changed.

Now that she had some time to relax, Zia started looking around the boat. The elevated platform was actually quite useful, providing her a decent view of the rest of the boat. A couple of men had gone down into the cabin area below, but the other two, including the main bald guy, who she'd figured out was named Wheatley, were in the cockpit. She realized, now that she wasn't barking orders at Bill (who had _not_ been happy to help her), and now that the other men were no longer rushing about, if she listened closely, she could just hear what they were saying. Wheatley was holding a mic up, and appeared to be radioing back and forth with someone. Probably someone at their destination, if Zia had to guess.

"Yeah, we got the dinosaur," she heard Wheatley say, as he nodded and listened. "Mostly okay. Kilian shot her though." There was another pause. "No, no, she's still alive. We were able to follow him–he led us straight to her. But there was another with him." She saw Wheatley looking towards her, and immediately moved her gaze back to Blue, hand reaching out to caress the raptor, who was twitching in her sleep. "No, not the redhead. This one claimed to be a paleo-vet." Zia had to bite her tongue to keep from yelling at him that she wasn't _claiming_ to be a paleo-vet, she _was_ one. She was so sick of being underestimated by others. "We had to bring her with us–needed her to keep the raptor alive." That time, when Wheatley paused, Zia could almost hear the response, and she knew he was being yelled at. "Well it was bring her or let the dinosaur die. You said she had to be alive."

Blue made a sound almost like a groan, and Zia was distracted for a few minutes trying to take care of her and calm her down. The tranq seemed to be wearing off faster than she'd expected. She was really hoping they wouldn't have to tranq her again.

When she was finally able to listen in again, Wheatley appeared to be talking about Owen. "–I shot him with a tranq. Left him behind, so he's probably dead or dino food now. Who cares. He's no longer useful to us." There's a pause and Zia watched as Wheatley's face went stormy with anger. "You never said to bring him along. I did what was asked. If you wanted him, too, you should've said something." There was a longer pause now, and Zia really wished she could hear what the other person was saying. Finally, Wheatley barked out one last line before slamming the mic down. "I expect the money to be in my account by the time we arrive."

x x x

Owen let the subject drop on rescuing Zia, letting Claire and Lowery continue to dig through the computer to see what they could find. Instead, he searched around the rest of the building, evaluating whether the other supplies that were left behind might be useful. While he hadn't planned on being there overnight (and he knew the others hadn't either – or at least that's what they had told him), he had been smart and his bag had some food (mostly protein bars and trail mix) and a couple liters of water. But, if they were heading to another island in the morning (and he was still hoping he could convince them otherwise), they were going to need more supplies.

When he'd been on the yacht, he had given it a cursory search. He uncovered supplies like linens and towels, lifejackets and a first aid kit, but he hadn't found any food. Luckily, in the bunker he did find a storage closet that appeared to have been kept stocked in case of an emergency. In it, he found bottles of water, some non-perishable food, blankets, more first aid kits, some flares, batteries, and radios. All things that could end up being useful. Especially the flares, considering how the last incident went down.

Wandering back out to the main area with some of the food and water, he talked the other two into leaving the computer alone for a bit to actually sit and eat something.

"If we're staying here tonight," Lowery looked around the building nervously, the idea only now sinking in, "are we staying in _here_ or should we be out on the _Jurasship_?"

"There are actual _beds_ on _Jurasship_ , I vote for sleeping on it," Claire put in her two cents.

Owen just shook his head in disagreement. "The boat's too accessible. There's nothing to stop any of the dinosaurs from making it down onto the docks. Also, I saw evidence that dinosaurs have been on the boat. Small ones–probably compys. We're much safer in here, even if less comfortable." He reached out and patted the cement wall. "This will hold up much better against any dinosaur, and we don't want to tempt any of them to try to destroy the boat. Besides," he reminded them, "we don't know what carnivore has claimed this part of the island as their territory."

Owen watched as the other two exchanged glances. He knew his last line would be enough to convince Lowery, and that Claire, while stubborn, would cave if it was two against one. He was right, when a moment later they both looked at him and nodded their agreement.

After eating, Claire and Lowery had gone back to the computer. Owen had taken a moment to observe what they were doing before deciding he really didn't care. It was getting dark, so he couldn't go back out on the boat, and instead he had busied himself with organizing the supplies he wanted to bring onto the yacht. They would carry them out in the morning. He had pulled out all the blankets he could find. He knew that his back was going to hate him for sleeping on concrete, but he stood by his reasoning. He folded a couple of the blankets in half, hoping to make a bit of a cushion before stretching out, using his backpack as a pillow. He didn't want to say anything, but while his body no longer felt like it was under the influence of the tranq, he still didn't feel 100%. His chest ached, and when he'd been alone on the boat he'd taken a moment to check on the damage. He'd found a large angry bruise the size of a softball. Even just brushing against it lightly with his fingertips had hurt.

If there was one good thing about his time in the Navy, it was that it had taught him how to fall asleep anywhere and under almost any circumstance. That was definitely coming in handy now. It didn't take long before he was fast asleep.

He woke with a start and a gasp not long later, almost sitting up from the pain that radiated from his chest. The room was mostly dark now, although it appeared Claire and Lowery had left one of the computer monitors on to act as a bit of a nightlight. His gaze darted around, trying to focus in the dark.

"Sorry," he heard Claire murmur as she slowly came into focus next to him. He could barely make out her facial features, but the little he could see looked embarrassed. He wished there was more light, he would bet that there was a red flush on her cheeks, and it was a sight he'd always found endearing, even though he knew she hated it.

"What happened?" Owen asked, his voice rough from sleep. He lowered back down, raising a hand to his chest, pain still emanating from his bruise. Behind Claire, he could see Lowery curled on his side, snoring softly.

"I guess I shifted in my sleep," Claire said softly. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Only then did Owen realize that Claire was stretched out on a blanket next to his. She was lying on her side, arm bent, propping up her head. She reached out her other hand, and rested it lightly on his chest. It should've felt nice. Normally, it would've felt wonderful. But as she moved her hand, probably mimicking what she'd done, he couldn't help the wince and gasp he made.

"What did I do?" Claire pulled back her hand. "What's wrong?"

"Not your fault," Owen shrugged. "Just a little bruised."

"Bruised? From what?" Claire asked. "Wait… from the dart, right? Are you okay? Let me see..." She was reaching for his shirt before he could stop her, although how she thought she was going to see in the low light, Owen had no idea.

"Stop," he grabbed her wrist lightly to stop her, before letting go. "It's okay, really. Just a little tender."

Claire allowed her hand fall back down to his chest, careful to avoid that area. "I'm really glad you're okay, you know," she said softly, laying back down herself, but leaving her hand resting on him.

Owen reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers and grasping it lightly. "Me, too." He paused, then added. "I mean, I really wish we weren't _here_ , but…"

"I'm sorry," Claire repeated herself. She'd been apologizing all evening and Owen knew she wasn't about to stop. He just really hoped things weren't about to get worse. Claire's guilt after the first incident knew no bounds. He couldn't imagine how she'd deal if Zia was injured...or worse. Not really sure how to reassure her, he ended up just lightly squeezing her hand again, murmuring a soft, "I'll be fine."

x x x

The next morning they were all up early. No one had slept all that well (concrete not being the softest bed to sleep on) and were all feeling a bit cranky. But, they managed to push most of their crankiness aside, motivate by their desire to get off the island.

Owen took the lead, which he knew was further irritating Claire, but boats were _his_ thing, not hers. It took a few trips, but they got all the supplies onto the _Jurasship_. When he had been searching around the bunker the previous evening, he'd been hoping he might come across the keys for the yacht, but no such luck. So, once everything was on board, he found himself lying on his back in the cockpit, twisting some wires together. It took a while to get it going, as it was a big enough vessel that it required a few different systems to be started, not just a single turn of a key. But, soon enough, he was back on his feet, wiping more grease off his hands as headed over to the side. He jumped back onto the dock and untied the boat at its handful of anchor points, before easily leaping back aboard.

"Everyone ready?" Owen asked, as he passed Claire and Lowery who had spent the last bit jumping out of his way every time he walked by, neither seemingly sure with where they should stand or sit. They didn't respond right away and Owen took his place behind the wheel. Ignoring them, he throttled up the engine and they started to move away from the dock. "Well, either way, we're on our way. I charted out our route, but, like I said yesterday, it's going to take a few hours. You might as well get comfortable."

He'd tried again that morning to convince them to call the plane back. When it hadn't initially worked, he argued that _he_ could go after Zia while they got the plane. Again, that had failed. Claire flatly dismissed any counter-solution he raised with, "She's my friend. I'm the reason she came here. I'm not going home without her."

Lowery was a bit more circumspect about it, and at one point, Owen thought he had him on the verge of caving. But, instead Lowery had started arguing that Owen would need him. "They got into the computer system but apparently couldn't figure out the tracking without us. There's a good chance I'll be useful." And, really, Owen didn't have a good argument against that. He wasn't known for his technical skills and they really had no idea what they were going to find on Sorna. It would be just his luck to leave Lowery behind only to get stuck in a situation where his knowledge would've made the difference.

They had been puttering along, following the same route that Zia and Blue had, sticking close to the shore line of Nublar as they headed south, for about half an hour when Lowery, giving a large yawn, decided he'd had enough of the three of them sitting in silence. "I'm going to go take a nap. Someone wake me when we get closer." Claire and Owen had just nodded silently and watched as he wandered away.

A few more minutes passed in silence before Owen turned to Claire, "You should probably go take a nap, too. Who knows what's going to happen once we're on Sorna. Might as well get sleep while you can."

"I'm fine," Claire shook her head, not meeting his gaze.

"Are you sure?" Owen knew she hadn't slept well. He'd woken on and off all night long, and, while they hadn't slept as close together as they would have in the past, he'd still been been cognizant of her restlessness and she had tossed and turned all night. He had tried reaching out for her, resting his hand on her hip, to see if he could help her settle. She had, but it only lasted a few minutes, before she shifted positions again, his hand sliding to the floor.

They continued on in silence, as Owen relaxed in the captain's chair, and Claire sat behind him. When Owen would glance back, she seemed to have pulled out papers and was making notes about _something_ , looking deep in thought. The next hour and half were uneventful, Owen focused on making sure they continued to stay on course, now that there were no visible landmarks to use as guides.

He was startled out of his thoughts when Claire came to stand beside him, gaze focused ahead of them. Owen risked a quick glance at her, and spotting the contemplative expression on her face, decided to just stay quiet. He'd seen her in similar moods before, and found that prodding her to speak never got them to the point any faster.

A while later she let out a heavy sigh, before saying, "You scared me. I thought you were dead."

"Well, that's what happens on these islands," Owen shrugged in return.

"Owen…" Claire drew out his name, filling the word full of emotion, of her frustration, anger, sadness and guilt.

"I don't know what you want me to say," Owen sighed in return. "You _know_ what's on these islands. And yet, your choice is to run straight at it."

"I didn't ask you to come," Claire reminded him.

"Right," Owen said bitterly. "If you had your way, I would have never known. Instead… Instead, someday, I'd get a call. Probably from Karen or one of the boys, asking when I last talked to you. Or maybe it's from someone at the DPG, wondering where their boss is. And I _know_ you, Claire. I know that you don't just disappear. Immediately, I'd know that something had happened. But I wouldn't know _what_. I'd be trying Zia and Lowery, and driving carefully the whole stretch between our places, worried that you'd gone off the road or something. That maybe you'd been the smart one, the one who caved first and had been on your way to see me when something happened. And I'd be beating myself up the whole drive– _Why didn't I just text you? Or call you? Or go see you?_ –And then I'd get to your place and realize that you weren't there and that I still couldn't get a hold of Zia or Lowery either. It wouldn't cross my mind at first, that you came back here. And even when it does, I'd dismiss it– _Claire's too smart to go back to the island. And she wouldn't go without telling me_.–At least, that's what I'd tell myself. Because dammit, Claire," Owen slammed his hand against the steering wheel, before clenching it tightly and taking a deep breath. "I thought we…" He trailed off, falling silent for a few moments, before finishing with, "I thought we were more than this."

Owen kept his gaze forward, unable to look at her, fearing what he might see on her face. Instead, he focused on loosening his grip on the steering wheel, before tightening it again, repeating the pattern as he worked to slow his breathing.

When a few minutes passed and Claire still hadn't said anything, he risked another look over at her. She was holding tightly to the safety rail in front of her, her knuckles white, and still staring resolutely ahead. He huffed, now more annoyed than anything, and returned his focus to steering, carefully following his planned route.

"You're right," Claire finally spoke up, startling Owen from his own thoughts. "I didn't think it through from your perspective. But you're also wrong," she was looking at him now, as Owen glanced over at her. "I wasn't going to tell you _not_ because I didn't want you to stop me, but because I didn't want you to come."

"Oh, believe me," Owen said caustically, "It's more than clear that you don't want me here."

"No, that's not–" Claire's voice cut off, as Lowery emerged, interrupting them.

"How close are we now?" Lowery asked, stepping into the cockpit. He paused, looking between the two, feeling the obvious tension in the air. "Oh, never mind. I'll just…"

"We've got about an hour left," Owen replied, as Lowery turned to leave. "Don't go, we need to figure out our approach."

Claire let out a heavy sigh, looking frustrated at the turn of events, before letting the topic drop. "What do you mean? Aren't we just going to head for the docks?"

* * *

 _Thanks for reading. Whether you enjoyed it, hated it, or just felt in between, I'd love to hear from you._

 _Thanks to everyone who has reviewed to date. Glad_ Jurasship _was well received (I actually came across a yacht called_ Deckadance _, which I thought was pretty clever and almost used that instead)._

 _Next chapter - Isla Sorna!_


	10. Chapter 9

_Yay! They're on Sorna now. Which means the action starts to pick up. :)_

 **Chapter 9**

Owen had argued (successfully) against using the docks as he didn't want to broadcast their arrival. Also, they had no idea if people would be stationed on the docks. Arriving to a hail of bullets (or tranq darts) wasn't his idea of fun. Instead, they chose to drop anchor a couple hundred yards off shore, north of the docks. The yacht was big enough that Owen knew if people were paying close attention, they'd be spotted. But, Sorna was also a huge island, easily four times the size of Nublar, and he was hoping that they'd be spread too thin to actually have good security coverage.

While he hoped they might be able to make it back to the _Jurasship_ later, Owen had them all prepare as if they wouldn't. They repacked their backpacks, focusing on necessities, and then took the small dinghy to shore. Once on shore, they had pulled the dinghy up high on the beach, and covered it loosely with large fronds from nearby ferns so it wouldn't be easily visible, tying it off on a tree. It would suck if they came back only to find that high tide had dragged it out to sea.

On the boat, they had used their combined knowledge (including some maps Lowery and Claire had managed to pull from the Nublar computers) to plan their approach. They had located the docks as well as where the older structures were. There had been an aviary on the island, as well as large paddocks, multiple lab buildings and barracks. Claire tried to remember what buildings she knew had been destroyed to update their map. But, either way, they knew they were mostly going in blind. Owen figured (and hoped) that if they were trying to keep the operation lowkey, they wouldn't want to be doing a whole lot of construction. And that meant they'd likely be using the same docks as before, as well as roadways and clearings for buildings.

Their plan was to cut through the jungle heading southeast, so that they would come across the main road. Once they'd found it, they would then follow it, and hope it would lead them to the main compound. What they would do next, would depend on what they found.

Owen hated that they were basing so much of their plans on "hopes." Nothing about what they were doing or about to do felt good. But, it was too late now to turn back (not that he'd ever be able to convince the other two to do so).

After making sure the dinghy was secure, they pulled on their backpacks and headed out into the jungle. Owen took the lead, holding a compass in one hand, with the tranq rifle - their only gun - slung over his shoulder.

Claire tried to convince Owen that they didn't need to worry about dinosaurs. "There were no dinosaurs kept here after Jurassic World opened. We moved them all over to Nublar. I promise," she kept repeating.

"Yeah well, I'm not so trusting," Owen disagreed, continuing to maintain his position in front.

"Why? You think I'm lying?" Claire sounded more exasperated than hurt.

"No," Owen shook his head. "I'm sure you believe exactly what you're saying. However," he paused, turning to face her and raising a hand to stop her before she could respond. "However, the dinosaurs on Sorna were breeding. That means that many of them never had trackers. This is a large island. Forgive me for thinking that some may have escaped your notice." He turned away from her without another word, continuing on his way. There was a pause, before he heard both Lowery and Claire rushing to catch up with him. He smirked, keeping his back to them as he continued forward.

x x x

Zia wasn't sure what to what to think about her current situation. They'd arrived on another island around dusk last night and had been met at the docks by another truck and trailer. Blue had started to wake up as they were nearing the island and Zia had been barely able to stop Wheatley from shooting her again. She'd finally convinced him that it could send Blue into respiratory failure as they couldn't properly dose her from the tranq darts.

Along with the truck and trailer at the dock, there had been a man that Zia had only seen pictures of before: Dr. Henry Wu. He had come down to meet them as Wheatley had radioed ahead about needing a sedative for Blue. Zia had just watched in awe (there had been many rumours floating around after the Jurassic World incident as to what happened to him, but there had been no confirmed sightings) as he measured out a dose and gave it to Blue.

She'd had a lot of questions to ask him, but, given the serious look on his face and the angrily exchanged words he had with Wheatley, she decided it probably wasn't the best time to ask. Instead, she had stuck close to Blue's side as she was lifted off the boat and placed on the trailer.

They had driven down a bumpy winding road through the jungle. While the road appeared well used, the plants already well squashed beneath the tires, it appeared that they weren't eager to make that very obvious, as they had left all the plants hanging down from above mostly intact. She had to keep ducking to avoid a faceful of vines.

It was a longer drive than she expected, but eventually the road emptied into a large clearing with a cluster of buildings ahead. There was a very large fence around the whole area, and the truck had to stop while the gate was manually opened by the guard in the small hut on the other side, to let them through.

She had expected them to stop once they were on the other side, but they had driven around the buildings to the back where there were a series of paddocks ranging from small to medium sized. Most of them contained a dinosaur, but she didn't get a long enough look to be able to figure out what was in each one. They had stopped by one of the larger paddocks where there was still evidence of construction going on. She couldn't tell for what exactly, as it appeared complete. The truck had parked with the trailer positioned near the double gated entrance.

Zia had stood off to the side as Blue was unloaded from the truck and carried into the paddock. When she had gone to follow, Wheatley stopped her at the first gate.

"Unless you have a death wish, I wouldn't be going in there if I were you," he had informed her. "She won't be restrained in there."

"But she's still injured," Zia had insisted. "She's going to need medical assistance."

"There's an area for that," Dr. Wu had stated, coming up beside them. "For now, we're going to let her wake up and see what sort of shape she's in. I guess we'll find out how good of a vet you really are." He had given her a sneer and then had left before she could say anything in response. If Wheatley wasn't standing beside her with his gun (and all the other armed men around) she would've picked up a rock and chucked it at Wu. Instead, all she had been able to do was throw a glare after him.

"Well, what am I supposed to do then?" Zia had asked, voice full of frustration. She had been almost wishing she'd been left behind. Except… except she was still pretty confident they would never have just left her without shooting her first.

Wheatley had called over another man and directed him to sort out where she'd stay tonight. He had added in a reminder that she was not a guest.

She tuned out most of the conversation, instead focusing on watching Blue, tracking the rise and fall of her chest. Eventually, she had been escorted to a tiny room with a cot and told to "stay there." There was a guard at the door and a window that she would be surprised if her head fit through and so she had been stuck.

She had paced around the room for a while, before giving up and sitting on the cot. And then, eventually, as it was getting late, lying down and falling asleep. She had been woken in the middle of the night to not quite roars, but what she would instead classify as an angry version of the chittering and trilling Blue had done at her and Owen the previous day. She'd knocked on her door and asked if she could go see Blue, but the guard had told her that it was all under control.

The following morning, she'd been let out and taken back over to Blue's paddock. Blue had been roaming around inside, chittering at any and all things. She hadn't looked impressed to see Zia. She'd been told to "evaluate" Blue, as they needed her healthy. When Zia asked how she was suppose to do that, considering she couldn't get near her, they'd simply replied, "watch her." And with that, they had left her trapped in between the two sets of cage doors.

She'd stood close to Blue's side for a while, observing the raptor as she moved, watching as Blue tried to hide her limp. After a while, she'd settled down on the dirt, back against a sidewall. Her position allowed her to still mostly observe Blue, but she could also keep an eye on what was going on outside the paddock. She was trying to figure out what everyone was doing there, besides abducting Blue and apparently other dinosaurs.

x x x

Owen was pretty sure they should be almost at the road when he heard it. He stopped, and almost immediately Claire walked into him, as she and Lowery had been busy talking and not really paying attention to where they were going.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" Claire said, once she regained her balance, her hand still resting on his arm she'd grabbed a hold of.

"Shhh!" Owen hushed them both, his other hand coming up to his ear, indicating he was listening. They both fell silent immediately, Lowery's eyes darting around the area in panic.

The jungle wasn't quiet. There were always sounds of various animals scurrying here and there, as well as the rustling of leaves, and the trickling of water. But, listening intently, Owen heard it again. The sound of careful footsteps, some _one_ or some _thing_ was tracking them. Slowly, he pulled his rifle off his shoulder, clicking off the safety and raising it.

"Wh–" Claire barely got the first sound out before Owen clamped a hand across her mouth, causing her to freeze. Letting go, he raised a finger to his lips again, and the other two nodded their understanding. He pointed in the direction he was sure the sound was coming from, and then gestured them to get behind him.

There's a few moments where he can't hear any movement. He's almost starting to think he had imagined it, and that they were good to keep going, when a _Baryonyx_ burst out from behind a tree. Owen didn't even hesitate, quickly firing two tranq darts into the dinosaur, causing it to wobble on its feet. However, the effect of the tranqs weren't immediate, and the dinosaur continued to charge at them with a roar, more angry than before.

"Move!" Owen shouted, shoving Claire and Lowery one way, sending them sprawling as he dove the other way, tucking himself into a ball and rolling as he landed. He popped back up onto his feet almost immediately, just in time to watch the dinosaur swing around, getting ready to charge again. Except, finally, the tranqs started to have their effect, and the _Baryonyx_ was swaying on her feet, taking a few wobbly steps back in their direction, before falling over, out cold.

Owen carefully walked closer to the fallen dinosaur, prodding it gently with the muzzle of the rifle, before he was convinced she was really out. Sighing in relief, he turned back to where Claire and Lowery were scrambling to their feet, both looking a little shaken.

"So," he gave them a weak grin, "still think there are no loose dinosaurs on here?"

Claire glared at him, before giving a shaky breath and straightening her backpack. Lowery was overtly jumpy, unable to stay still as his gaze darted around and his body twisted this way and that, each sound capturing his attention.

"What do we do now?" Lowery asked.

"What we were doing before," Owen brushed off his pants where some leaves were sticking. "Find the road so we can hopefully find Zia." He looked at his compass again, getting his bearings, before heading off. It took him about 20 feet to realize that the other two weren't following him. Sighing, he turned around hands on his hips. "What now?" he growled at them.

"Just wondering what other animals might be out here," Lowery responded. "And if what we're doing is even smart."

"Oh, _now_ you guys are going to rethink this?" Owen shook his head. "I gave you guys so many outs. I _told_ you to get on the damn plane. But no, you both insisted you _had_ to come."

Lowery and Claire exchanged looks before looking back the way they had come.

"No," Owen immediately disagreed. "I'm not taking you back to the boat now. It's too late. And, seriously guys?" He looked past them to where the _Baryonyx_ is still lying out cold on the ground. "I have no idea how long she'll stay asleep. We need to get _moving_."

He turned away again, and continued back into the jungle. In his head, he counted slowly to 10, waiting to see if they would follow him. He was on '9' when he finally heard them moving, their steps hurrying to catch up to him. He didn't say anything, just continued to walk, slowing his pace ever so slightly until they were behind him.

About 10 minutes later, they finally came across the road they've been looking for. The fact that they could easily identify it as a road was more than enough of a sign to Owen that whatever was going on on this island was not a tiny operation and had been going on for a while. He had to stop Lowery and Claire from bursting out of the jungle and onto the road as they eagerly moved to do so.

"What? Why can't we walk out there?" Lowery complained.

"Because A, the road looks well used and we don't want to be caught on it and B, the road gives us no cover, so any other dinosaurs who may be loose would be able to _easily_ spot us. We're going to follow the road, but we'll do so from the safety of the cover of the jungle," Owen explained, pulling them back further from the road. The other two grumbled, but continued to trail after him. He gave a sigh of relief that at least they hadn't argued with him that time.

Owen had no idea how long they were going to have to walk. He'd chosen his bearings in hopes that the diagonal path they had taken would at least cut their time down a bit once they found the road. And, although he didn't show it, he was relieved that the road looked well travelled. It meant that their assumptions that whoever was on this island had chosen to re-use the previously occupied area was correct and that they were heading in the right direction. Of course, he would've preferred it to look a little _less_ well travelled.

A continuous humming sound was the first thing that alerted Owen that they must be getting close. He stopped and waited for the other two to follow suite.

"What's up? Another dinosaur?" Lowery was back to gazing around nervously. As they had continued to walk without encountering anything he had regained his confidence, but this latest stop was threatening to shatter it.

"No, do you hear that?" Owen had them listen.

"The humming sound?" Claire asked.

"Yeah," Owen nodded. "I think we must be getting close. Do you recognize that sound from Jurassic World? It reminds me of the electrified fences." The other two listened closely for another moment before agreeing with him. "So while that's probably a good sign we're close, an electric fence is not a hurdle I was expecting. We might have to wander around it for a while until we can find a way in."

Again, the three continued to move forward, although slower now. Owen didn't expect the fence to just pop up out of nowhere and that they would accidentally run it, but that didn't mean there wasn't going to be anything else, including security cameras, that could catch them unaware.

Thirty meters later, they could finally see the fence. The area in front of them, and also off to the right, was indeed electrified. However, to their left was a gate for the road, and that part did not appear to be electrified. In fact, it actually looked like it needed to be manually opened and closed. On one of the posts beside the gate was a security camera as he had feared. On the other side of the fence was a small guard hut. The could just make out one person sitting inside it and from the way the light was bouncing around, it appeared that the guard had view of the security feeds. Beside the guard hut, they could see a mostly open area with a few buildings and a number of vehicles scattered about. But, except for the one guard in the hut, they couldn't see any other people.

"So, what do we do now?" Claire asked, after they had stood staring at the fence for a few minutes. "I mean, how are we going to get inside?"

"I'm trying to figure that out," Owen replied. "Wait here." He jogged off to the left, trying to get an idea of what the fence looked like as it continued. He didn't go far, just until he was almost out of their sight, before backtracking. "This place looks really big. There might be another entrance, I think we should take a look."

The three of them headed out, following the line of the fence. As they walked, they noticed security cameras mounted on each fence post, so they made sure that they were staying far enough back in the tree line to remain out of sight. It was Lowery who stopped them first, placing a hand on each of Owen and Claire to bring them to a halt.

"Do you hear that?" Lowery asked, tiling his head. He'd been hyper observant since the _Baryonyx_ and now was sure he was hearing _multiple_ dinosaurs.

"Is that… Blue?" Claire asked, hearing angry chittering followed by an angry snarl. "No, wait, that sounds more like a _Stygimoloch_."

"It sounds like Jurassic World," Lowery commented. "The ever present mix of sounds from multiple species of dinosaurs. Like going by the petting zoo after hours."

"That doesn't make sense," Owen replied. "Most of these dinosaurs don't like to be around each other. I'd expect them to have essentially carved up the territory." He paused, and they all listened again. "Although, that _does_ sound like Blue," Owen agreed.

"If that's her, she's probably not out here loose," Claire stated. "Who's to say the other dinosaurs we're hearing are loose? They might be caged up with her."

"Maybe we'll be able to see her from out here," Owen suggested, gesturing for the others to start moving again.

Another hundred meters or so, and they finally passed the buildings and started to go around to the back of the compound. As they did so, they could see that there were a series of paddock or holding pen type areas lining the fence. They seem to have been designed such that the fence was one of the walls, cutting down on the necessary construction. As they passed the first one, they could see an _Apatosaurus_ inside. The next one contained a couple of _Gallimimus_. After an empty paddock, they ultimately came across Blue.

Claire and Lowery stopped walking to see what Owen was going to do. He was looking intently at Blue, who was roaming and chittering angrily around her cage, although she had an obvious (to Owen, at least) limp. He moved closer to the fence, although making sure to still stay well covered. As he watched Blue, he noticed that she'd throw a particular look in one direction, every time she walked by an area of the cage. He looked carefully and finally made out the top of Zia's head. She appeared to be sitting, keeping most of her out of view.

Turning back to the others, he waved them to come closer to him. "I can see Zia," Owen told them, as they approached. "Look." He pointed her out to the other two, who both looked relieved to know she was still alive and that they'd found her.

"How do we get her attention?" Lowery asked. "I mean, I'm guessing we can't just yell out."

"No yelling," Owen agreed. "Let me try something." He paused, reaching into one of his vest pockets and pulling out a handful of beef jerky pieces. Lowery's eyes lit up and he reached for one, which Owen pulled away. "These aren't for you," Owen hissed.

Turning back to the fence, Owen whistled sharply. The effect was almost immediate, as Blue came to a halt, stopping her chittering as she tilted her head in confusion. Owen whistled again, and this time Blue beelined for the fence. Owen could tell the moment she spotted him, as she started chittering again, but this time in recognition.

"Hey Blue," Owen said softly, trying to keep his voice down. "Look what I brought you." He raised a piece of jerky in the air, before tossing it at her. This time, unlike back on Nublar, she snapped her jaws quickly, gobbling it down before looking at him hopefully for more. "Have they not been feeding you?" Owen asked, tossing in another piece.

"Not that I'm not happy to see Blue," Claire said from beside him, "But how is this helping us."

"Give me a minute, you'll see," Owen replied. He sweet talked Blue a little more, offering her up a couple more treats. Soon he enough, he realized he'd got Zia's attention, seeing her standing now and looking at Blue. He gave Blue a command to tell her she could go, wanting to try to clear the sightline between himself and Zia. Blue just looked at him, not wanting to move, and not eager to go back to roaming her small area. "Lowery, move a few steps to your right," he instructed. After the other man did, Owen continued, "Can you still see Zia? Wave your arms and see if you can get her attention."

"Got it!" Lowery said excitedly after a few waves of his arms, lowering them back down. "Am I supposed to yell at her now?"

"No," Owen groaned. "Okay, I need her to be able to see me. I need Blue to move over." He tried the command again to get Blue to back away, but she didn't move. "Claire, can you help me out here?" Owen handed her a few pieces of jerky. "Can you hold it up for Blue and walk a few steps to my left. I need her to just shift over a bit." Thankfully, Blue appeared hungry, and took a couple of steps over with Claire, who then tossed her the treat. Owen wasn't sure if Blue would be willing to acknowledge Claire, but maybe the raptor remembered her from that fateful night three years ago.

Owen quickly raised his hands to get Zia's attention. He wasn't sure how long Claire would be able to keep Blue occupied. He gave himself half a moment to internally smile as he listened to Claire sweet talking the dinosaur, before tossing her occasional treats. He always knew that Blue was special. Back at Jurassic World, before their disaster of a date, he had always hoped that one day he would be introducing the two. The night of the incident was not how he'd ever imagined it going down. But even in his dreams, he'd never predicted it going as well as this – corporate Claire being overly skittish around the dinosaurs and seeing them as dollar signs first. This, Claire feeding and talking to Blue, was better than he could've dreamed.

Turning back to the task at hand, he got Zia's attention and tried to ask through hand signals how many guards and people were around. Unfortunately, the information was definitely getting lost in translation, and eventually Zia just shrugged back at him, looking helpless.

"Can we get her a radio?" Lowery asked, pulling the two he had been carrying for them out of his bag.

Owen looked at it, and then at the distance to Zia. He took one from Lowery and tossed it lightly in his hand, feeling the weight. "Let's hope so," he nodded. He held the radio up so Zia could see it, and then mimed throwing it, so she'd get the picture. Owen watched as she briefly went out of sight before she reappeared. She waved at him to throw it now.

"Are you sure you can get it to her?" Claire asked from behind him, just as he was pulling his arm back to throw.

"I played football in high school," Owen reassured her. "I've got good aim. I can do it." He looked again at Zia, who was waving at him frantically to do so now. He knew he only had one shot at this, and gripping the radio tightly he pulled his arm back again, before swinging it forward, and letting the radio fly.

* * *

 _As always, thanks for those of you who take the time to leave me a review. I appreciate every single one, and make notes from your speculation and questions to make sure I wrap everything up. :)_


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

It didn't make it. He watched as it clipped a tree branch, causing it to fall just a few feet short of his target. Even with Zia leaning as far into the cage as she could manage, she couldn't reach it, and she pulled back immediately, the moment Blue started towards her.

"So, how good was your high school football team?" Claire teased, as she stepped back beside him, handing him the couple of pieces of jerky she had left.

"What do we do now?" Lowery asked, also moving back towards him.

The three watched as Blue headed straight for the radio, nosing it on the ground trying to determine what it was. After confirming it wasn't going to hurt her (and wasn't food), she stood up, and looked back at them. Her gaze swung towards Zia briefly before returning back to them. Blue then bent down over the radio again, before picking it up carefully in her mouth. She began walking towards Owen and the others, and they all frantically waved at her to go the other way. Blue paused, tilting her head at them curiously, before turning toward Zia, who had her hand outstretched (although not into the cage), beckoning Blue towards her. Blue took the couple of steps towards Zia, before dropping the radio back onto the ground.

Zia, keeping her eyes on Blue, bent down and reached carefully for the radio, snatching her arm back as soon as she had it within her grip. Standing back up, she held it up to the others, so they could see that she managed to get it. She followed that action by raising a hand with two fingers pointed up, and she saw Owen nod in agreement, holding up his own radio in return.

Blue was looking expectantly at Zia. Unfortunately, the paleo-vet had no treats on her to reward Blue's behaviour. Zia switched on her radio and asked, " _Hey, can you guys call for Blue? She's looking for her reward and I have nothing to give her that isn't a part of me I'd like to keep._ "

Almost immediately, there was a quick whistle, as Owen called Blue back over. Blue hesitated for a moment before leaving Zia, looking back at her unhappily. The moment Blue was back at the fence, however, she was greeted by Owen who tossed her a few more strips of jerky along with showering her in praise. She tossed a look over her shoulder at Zia, before chattering happily towards Owen.

While Owen was occupied, Claire pulled the radio from his hand and held it up so she could start talking with Zia. The questions tumbled out of her, "Zia, are you okay? Did they hurt you? Do you need anything?"

" _I'm fine,_ " Zia reassured her. " _They put me in a room last night and then have stuck me out here today. I don't think they know what to do with me yet, and I've been able to convince them, so far, that Blue still isn't 100% and that they need me._ "

"What can you tell us about the guard situation?" Owen asked, grabbing the radio back from Claire. They had a bit of a tug of war over it, before Owen relented, letting Claire maintain hold, but not without giving her an exasperated look first. "We saw one at the guard booth, but really haven't seen anyone else."

" _I don't think there's a ton of people working here,_ " Zia agreed. " _I came back with those guys who shot you, Owen. There were four of them. The bald one – the one who shot you – I learned his name is Wheatley. Besides them, there's was the guard at the guard house, and at least one other._ " Zia paused, trying to remember who else she saw. " _Oh, and Dr. Wu!_ "

"Wu?!" The response came from all three, Owen, Lowery and Claire equally surprised. No one had known where he disappeared to during the fallout of Jurassic World. And there'd been nothing about him since. The three of them had had numerous conversations speculating on what might have happened and why InGen was covering for him. And they were _sure_ InGen was covering, because if they weren't, they would expect InGen to be looking as hard as everyone else for his whereabouts, wanting to hang the Indominus on him.

" _Yeah, I saw him briefly yesterday,_ " Zia confirmed. " _He came out to the boat with another guy to give Blue a sedative for the drive over here, as she had woken up from the tranq._ "

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," Claire said, her gaze resting on Blue, who had gone back to roaming her paddock now that Owen was no longer offering up treats.

"Me, too," Lowery agreed. "If Wu's here… who knows what else is." He looked nervously behind him and back into the dark jungle.

"If Wu's here, there's got to be more scientists," Owen added, thinking aloud. "The operation doesn't appear to be too big, and considering there aren't guards wandering around in the compound, they don't seem at all concerned that anyone is going to stumble in on them."

"These islands are pretty much a no-go area for Costa Ricans," Lowery reminded everyone. "They're called Las Cinco Muertes for a reason."

"Right," Claire agreed. "This whole area is pretty much avoided at all costs. Even the main shipping routes don't have ships coming within a few miles of here. It's the perfect area to set up a secret lab."

"You don't think–" Lowery started to look agitated, his gaze jumping around more frantically.

"Think what?" Claire asked.

There was a pause before Lowery managed to say, "The _Indominus_?"

Claire paled at the thought, her gaze following Lowery's, bouncing through the jungle.

"I doubt it," Owen tried to reassure them. "Don't get me wrong, I think Wu's a total egomaniac and would love the idea of trying again, but, there's nothing we've seen here that is big enough to contain an _Indominus_."

"So it might be _loose_?" Lowery asked hesitantly, and Claire paled even further.

"No!" Owen shook his head forcefully, gaining their attention. When both were looking at him again, he continued. "I don't think this electrified fence would be a big enough deterrent. There's no way they'd want one running loose on this island, not when they have to use an unprotected roadway to get to and from their ships, which is probably how they get most supplies. I'm surprised that _Baryonyx_ we encountered was loose. Besides," Owen shrugged. "Like I said, Wu's an egomaniac. He would want to observe his creation as it grew. To study it. To improve on it. Anything he's cooking up in there," Owen waved towards the buildings through the fence, "and I'm sure he's cooking up something, it will be something that he can keep contained in these paddocks. Also, remember Hoskins' comments?" At that, he turned towards Claire, who after a moment nodded. "A 'fraction of the size' is, I think, how he phrased it. I bet you they talked about the _Indominus_ and I bet that's a conversation they had."

" _Great,_ " Zia's voice coming through the radio reminded them of where they were. " _So what you're saying, is that there might be a smaller Indominus running around in here with me?_ "

"Well, not _with_ you," Owen replied, 'but yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he's working on something like that. In the couple of paddocks we passed we saw a couple of _Gallimimus_ and an _Apatosaurus_. Whatever it is, whatever they're doing, they're going to think they're in control. Just like they think they're in control of Blue now."

Before anyone could say anything else Zia whispered a quick, " _Someone's coming,_ " before her radio went silent. Owen pulled Claire and Lowery further back into the jungle with him, making sure they were out of sight.

Barely two minutes went by before Zia was back on the radio. "S _orry, a guy came to check on Blue. Said the guard watching the feeds thought she was acting funny, jumping for something. I told him she was chasing butterflies._ "

"They bought that?" Owen asked in surprise.

" _Yeah_ ," Zia replied with a bit of a chuckle. " _These guys are not at all knowledgeable about animal behaviour._ "

"Great," Owen groaned.

"Why's that a bad thing?" Claire asked. "Isn't them being dumb about this working in our favour?"

"Sure, in this case," Owen agreed. "But, they're more likely to do something stupid and set the animals off if they're not aware of what they're doing. That's what I worry about."

" _Oh, just a sec again_ ," Zia interrupted. They all waited patiently for a few minutes until Zia came back on again. " _Some guys were just walking by. It sounds like they're about to do a run to the docks as a ship is arriving with supplies. This might be your best bet on figuring out a way in, as that'll greatly reduce the number of guys wandering around with guns in here._ "

"Good idea," Owen agreed. "We're going to head the rest of the way around just in case there's another entrance, but I think we're going to have to go in through the front. Keep giving us a head's up when we shouldn't radio you. We're probably going to need your help."

" _Copy that_ ," Zia said.

"Come on," Owen gestured to the others. "I'd like to see who leaves and how many."

The journey around the rest of the compound was uneventful. There were a couple more empty paddocks as well as a _Carnotaurus_ , an _Ankylosaurus_ , a _Stegosaurus_ and a few _Compsognathus_. The last ones had drawn a comment from Owen as they went by–"Really? Who in their right mind would think bringing _Compy's_ to the island is a good idea?" To which Claire had replied, "No one here is in their right mind."

They approached the front gate just in time to see a couple of the trucks leaving. It looked like there were four men heading out, two per truck. Owen didn't see the one who had shot him, Wheatley, which made him think this must be the four main "guards" at the base (minus the one left in the guardhouse and Wheatley himself). That would definitely make now the best time to try to get in.

After the trucks had left, the remaining guard had shut the gate behind them before retiring back to his guard house. He looked pretty relaxed, which wasn't surprising – he probably rarely to never had anything to do that wasn't interacting with the people in the compound. Watching the guard for a couple of minutes, Owen knew that they were going to have to find a way to distract him, to get him to leave his post. There was no way they could get that gate open without him noticing. It was too big and way too noticeable.

"Hey Zia," Owen used the radio.

" _Yeah?_ "

"We're going to need a distraction. Something that would convince this guard to leave his post temporarily. If we can get him to go to you…"

" _You want me to get Blue agitated?_ " Zia asked, looking in at the raptor, who had turned to look at her when she heard her name.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking," Owen agreed with a wince. This was definitely not ideal, but he knew Blue, which meant he knew what Zia could do. "She's not going to like you for this," he warned Zia.

" _I don't think she likes me now_ ," Zia replied. " _Even though I_ did _save her life._ "

"Well, be prepared to make her like you even less," Owen said, eyes still focused on the guard. "Blue really doesn't like unnatural sounds. You know, like things that beep."

" _Like a truck backing up?_ " Zia clarified.

"Yeah," Owen agreed. "Although I don't think we're going to be able to pull that off. What's in the cage with you? What kind of locking system are they using?"

" _Um_ ," Zia looked around her. She hadn't paid much attention to it, having no faith that she would be able to get herself out once in there. Looking now, she saw two keypads, one for the gate that led into Blue's cage and one for the gate that led back to the main compound area. " _Two keypads in here, looks like one is for each gate. Also a big red button, I'm guessing that might be an emergency shut command._ "

"Sounds like the setup we had back on Nublar," Owen replied. "And yeah, the red would shut the gates – that didn't need a code. Try the keys. On Nublar, every time you put in the wrong code it would give out a horrible sound like a buzzer on a game show." Owen waited a moment, before adding, "Oh, um, maybe don't try it on the one that leads into Blue's cage. I know the odds aren't great that you get the right code but, um, if you do, I'd rather you're free and not face-to-face with Blue."

" _Right_ ," Zia nodded, turning to the other keypad, pretending she hadn't moved towards the one near Blue. Not that they could see her and tell what she was doing. " _I had the same thought_ ," she covered for herself. Facing the keypad, she decided to aim for super simple, knowing those were least likely the code. Quickly she entered 1-1-1-1 before hitting the pound sign. She was greeted by a loud buzzer. Even though she was both expecting and hoping for it, it still caught her off guard. Blue roared, and looking over her shoulder Zia could see her coming towards her.

"That's great Zia," Owen encouraged her. "You're going to need to do it a few more times. By then, Blue's reaction should be enough to get the guard's attention."

Zia repeated the same code, watching as Blue got visibly more agitated with each entry. After four more tries, Blue was now pacing back and forth in front of the gate alternating between roaring and trilling angrily. " _Any action?_ " Zia asked Owen.

"Not ye–" Owen started, before cutting himself off. The guard was finally moving, heading for the door. "Yep, he's moving now. Make sure you hide the radio. And the moment he leaves you, give us a few clicks so we know."

" _Good luck_ ," Zia replied and the radio fell silent.

Owen waited until the guard had disappeared around the corner of the building before hustling Lowery and Claire forward. Getting the gate open ended up taking longer than expected, as it was clear it had been built to be opened from the inside and not the outside. They had to fiddle quite a bit, Owen getting increasingly nervous as time went by, but trying not to show it. Finally, they managed to disengage the lock and scramble through, quickly shutting and re-locking it behind them.

Claire took the lead, darting in the same direction the guard had, which had Owen almost reaching to pull her back so they could go the other way. But, he then saw what she had noticed – there was a cluster of utility boxes, the kind that store access points for electrical systems and such. They would make a good cover point, as they tried to figure out their next move – they would be able to stay out of sight of both the buildings and the gate and guard house. Just as they had almost made it, Owen heard clicking from the radio, and he pushed Lowery and Claire to move faster. They had just ducked out of sight when they could hear the guard muttering to himself as he came back around the buildings towards them.

There was enough space where they were hiding for the three of them to comfortably sit or kneel on the ground, and both Lowery and Claire immediately took advantage of that, sitting down with their backs against a utility box. Owen maintained a crouch, trying to peek over the edge and watch the guard's movements. He didn't want to be surprised if the guard for some reason decided to wander over by the boxes on his way back to his post.

Once the guard finally disappeared back into his small guard house, Owen shifted around to check on the others, while simultaneously gesturing for the radio from Claire, who was still clutching it.

"What?" Claire asked, looking at him.

"The radio," Owen hissed back, reaching for it. He almost rolled his eyes, watching the internal debate Claire had before she reluctantly handed it over. He knew she hated not being in control, but it was just a radio. "Zia?" Owen asked softly, before waiting for a reply.

" _Did you guys get in?_ " Zia replied, and they could hear Blue still trilling angrily from behind her.

"Yeah, it was close, but we're in," Owen nodded. "How's Blue?"

" _Not happy_ ," Zia said simply.

"She'll get over it," Owen told her. "Too bad you don't have any jerky for her."

" _She's limping a little more now_ ," Zia noted. " _I'm thinking the pain might be getting to her as well, which will just make her more easily aggravated._ "

"Can you give her something?" Owen asked.

" _I don't have anything_ ," Zia replied. " _The guard and I talked about that, actually, but I'd prefer she's not under the influence of anything so I can see how she continues to heal. What I wish I could do is check her bandage. But that won't be happening unless we knock her out again. I do wish I had more food for her though, she's definitely malnourished._ "

"Well, add that to the list of things we need to sort out," Owen said, rolling his shoulders to relieve some tension.

"Wait," Claire interrupted the discussion. "Malnourished?"

" _Yeah_ ," Zia is the one who answered. " _She's definitely looking too thin. I think that's why she hadn't been moving much before we got here. Nublar is not that big of an island and most of the carnivores on there have big appetites. It makes me wonder how well the T-Rex and others are doing. I hate to say it, but the ones in the cages here might actually be better off than whatever's left on the island._ "

"But the T-Rex survived from the original park," Lowery reminded them, looking up from his tablet, which he'd pulled out the moment he sat down.

"Right, but besides Rexy and the compy's," Claire interjected, "there really wasn't anything else that did. There wasn't a lot of carnivore competition." She was wracking her brain to fill in details from what she remembered about the earlier park.

" _Carnivores usually have really large territories_ ," Zia added. " _Lion prides can cover 100 square miles. Nublar is way too small for multiple large carnivorous species to thrive together._ "

"And don't forget, Blue's a pack animal," Owen reminded them. "She's used to hunting with her sisters. Not only has her entire environment been turned upside down, but she lost her entire family too."

"Okay, well, this is all well and good," Lowery piped up impatiently, "But I'm not sure how it helps us out right now."

"Yeah, we're getting a bit sidetracked," Owen agreed. "Zia, did the guard say anything else to you? Or even last night? Do you have any idea what's really going on here? Why they're collecting all these dinosaurs?"

" _No, not really_ ," Zia sighed. " _I wish I had a better answer, but no one's said much of anything. I did get the impression that Blue is important though. That they've been trying to find her for a while."_ There's a pause, while everyone digests that, but any thoughts on it are tossed aside by Zia's next statement. " _Oh, and on the boat, Wheatley was talking to someone, maybe Wu, and he was telling them that he'd shot you, Owen, and that he'd brought someone else back. And then he said 'no, not the redhead.' These guys definitely aren't just random mercenaries. I mean, considering Wu's here, we know that. But they know who you two are._ "

"Our faces were plastered all over the news for months," Claire sighed, her gaze on Owen's face. He was clutching the radio tightly, and his eyes were squeezed shut. His lips were moving, but she couldn't hear anything. She recognized the response, having seen him do the same before, counting off silently trying to calm himself down. She reached out a hand, resting it on his back, rubbing softly as she continued. "I don't think we can read too much into that. If the guy, this Wheatley, recognized Owen, whoever he's talking to quite probably just assumed I'd be there too."

"I think you're brushing it off to easily," Owen said, shaking his head. "Those guys didn't stumble on Blue by accident. They told me 'thanks for your help.' They knew we were there. They must have been tracking us." He paused, taking a peek towards the guard house to confirm nothing had changed. "Who else knew you were coming here?"

"No one," Claire replied immediately. When Owen looked at her in disbelief, she insisted with more force. "Seriously Owen, we didn't tell anyone. I barely told _you_ , remember? Even those at the DPG just think we've gone on a trip to New York to talk to investors."

"The pilot knows," Lowery reminded them.

"Okay, fine, the pilot," Claire conceded. "But I didn't find him through anyone, and he didn't reach out to me. How or who would he know to contact?"

"It doesn't matter," Owen stopped the argument. "It's not like we can go back in time and prevent yesterday from occurring. What we need to do, is figure out what we're going to do next."

For a moment, silence falls over them all, only to be interrupted by Lowery exclaiming loudly. "I'm in!"

" _In what?_ " Zia asked, not being able to see him.

"You know, you would think with all this top secret stuff they were doing they would put some passwords on their computers," Lowery muttered, before looking at Claire and Owen with a big grin. "I managed to get onto their wifi network. Mind you, there appears to be two different ones, and I'm on the intranet, not the internet."

"What does that mean?" Owen asked.

"I can access the local network and stuff that's right here and connected to it," Lowery explained. "The internet would let me check emails or go to Google. I'm still working on access to that. But," he grinned again, "I was able to get access to their security cams!"

"What do they cover?" Claire asked, curious.

"There actually aren't that many here. They really must not be worried about outsiders. There are the ones on the outside ring of the perimeter fence, some focused on the paddocks in the back, and that's about it," Lowery shrugged. "Whoever they paid to do the security here was not worth the money."

"How many radios do we have?" Owen asked, turning to look at Claire.

"Three left," Claire replied, digging the third one out of her bag and holding it up. "Why, what are you thinking?"

"We need more info about what's going on," Owen said, looking back over the boxes again at the guard. "We still don't really know what we're up against."

"I thought we were just going to get Zia," Lowery said.

"I'm not leaving Blue," Owen and Zia both replied in almost unison. Zia added, " _I don't feel comfortable leaving any of these dinosaurs here, not until we know what they're planning on doing._ "

"I agree," Owen said. "I want to go snoop around a bit, see what I can find out." He looked at Claire, who was still holding the third radio. "We've got three radios, Zia has one, I'll take one, and you two can share the third."

"What? No way," Claire shook her head. "I'm going with you."

"I can sneak around better without you," Owen argued. "One person is less conspicuous than two."

"That may be true, but we don't know what you're going to find. You're going to need me," Claire insisted. Owen was ready to retort, to argue that she was wrong, but his eyes were caught on Claire playing with the straps on her backpack, the only outward sign she was giving that she wasn't as confident in what she was saying.

Before he could reply, Lowery spoke up. "Just let her go with you, man," Lowery rolled his eyes. He was busy reaching into his bag and plucking out a solar charger for his tablet. "You know she's going to follow you either way."

" _He's right_ ," Zia agreed, her small chuckle perceptible even through the radio. " _Besides, Lowery said there are no security cameras in there. One of you can be on lookout for the other._ "

"Fine," Owen ground out as he quickly pulled a couple of things out of his backpack and checked over his vest pockets, before leaving his backpack on the ground with Lowery. He gestured to Claire to leave hers as well. He paused, looking at Lowery and then down at his radio. "With three radios, we're going to need to be careful we don't give anyone away. If you want to talk, give three clicks. When you hear three clicks, reply with two quick clicks if you're good. And then, only if you get two sets of two clicks back, do you say anything. Got it?" Owen looked intently at Lowery, who just nodded, while Zia replied with a quick "copy."

Owen then crept towards the edge of the utility boxes, Claire following behind him. He paused, looking around the area, before with a brief glance over his shoulder at her, he said, "Let's get one thing straight. I'm in charge."

"Believe what you want," Claire replied, giving him a smile when he turned back again to glare at her, before following after him, as he sprinted across the clearing to the first building.

* * *

 _Next chapter - some answers. :)_

 _Thanks for reading and reviewing. My stories would not be anywhere close to what they are if it wasn't for all the time, effort and help that **Elise-Collier** has provided. She pushes for all the clawen moments, and has been the hidden source behind many of the small details. Please take a moment to go check out her fics - they're awesome. We're also planning out a joint fic, stay tuned._


	12. Chapter 11

_As always, thanks to my amazing and supportive beta Elise-Collier for all her help._

 **Chapter 11**

Claire and Owen ducked into the first building the moment they got to the door. They couldn't risk standing outside in case the guard moved (or the others who had left returned). Luckily, the door led to an entryway that was empty. In fact, the building was very quiet, with no signs of life.

In front of them, there was a hallway that branched to the left and right as well as some doors directly across from the entryway. Creeping forward (just because there were no signs of life, didn't mean no one was there), they headed for the doors in front of them first, glancing down the hallways cautiously. Claire reached out to open the door, but Owen stopped her, finger to his lips when she went to ask a question. He moved until his ear was pressed up against the door, listening intently. Hearing nothing, he then slowly turned the door handle and pushed the door open. The hinges gave a bit of a squeak, startling them so much that they both jumped, before looking at each other embarrassed.

The room on the other side of the door turned out to be a common area, with some couches, a TV, a counter with a sink and a coffee maker, a couple of small tables and chairs, and a foosball table. The two entered the room and both immediately started looking around. There were some scattered papers and magazines about, and they were hoping maybe something would give them a clue. Claire flipped through a stack of magazines on the counter, discarding them all as useless. Most seemed to be hunting or biology focused, neither topics of interest for her. Moving along, she glanced at the papers taped to the wall by the coffeemaker and sink. As it turned out, workplaces were the same everywhere, whether in the middle of a city or a covert operation. The sign by the coffee maker reminded users to make another pot if they took the last cup and to make sure they didn't leave so little in the carafe that it burned. Further along and closer the sink, there was one that actually featured Mr. DNA – eliciting a chuckle from Claire – reminding people to wash their hands. Finally, the last piece of paper she looked at made her stop and turn to Owen, beckoning him over to her.

"I need the radio," Claire asked, holding out her hand.

"Why?" Owen replied, refusing to relinquish it.

"Seriously, Owen? Give it to me," Claire pulled it from his grasp, quickling sending three clicks through. Almost immediately there were two responding sets of clicks. Claire turned back to the wall, still holding the radio. "Lowery, there's a sign here about the WiFi. It's got a SSID and a password, would that help?"

" _Yes_!" Lowery's response was immediate and eager.

"It's in the breakroom, so I'm guessing this is for the internet not the intranet," Claire said. "The SSID is _siteb_ and the password is _lifefindsaway_ , all lowercase." Claire paused after reading it, before adding, "At least someone here has a sense of humour."

" _The_ siteb _I already knew_ ," Lowery said, " _but the password works._ " There's a pause and everyone on the radios can hear some faint tapping before Lowery continued. " _The connections not super high speed, but it's more than useable. This is great. Oh internet, I've missed you._ "

"This is all great," Owen interrupted, "But it's not helping us figure out what's going on. We're going to continue to look. All we've seen so far is a lounge area in this first building."

" _Sounds like the building where they put me in a room for the night_ ," Zia commented. " _I think it's just a bunch of small bedrooms, bathrooms and the lounge_."

"Yeah, that's probably this building," Owen agreed. "We're going to take a quick look anyway. We'll keep you guys updated."

" _Okay_ ," Zia replied, while Lowery gave a distracted, " _yep_."

"Come on," Owen gestured to Claire to keep moving. "There's nothing in here, and we have no idea when those guys will be back from the dock. More people is just going to make this harder."

The two quickly checked out the rest of the building. It was definitely the building Zia had been put in, and the rooms all looked pretty much identical. There wasn't a whole lot of personal belongings in any of the rooms, outside of clothes and toiletries. A few pictures of possible family, and some pinup posters that made Claire roll her eyes. But nothing that was going to give them an indication of what was going on.

They decided to not waste any more time in that building, and after checking in with Lowery that no one had returned and the guard wasn't looking in their direction, they darted back out the door they had entered and headed to the next building.

The second building was smaller than the previous one and also had a front door with no window. Once again, Owen pulled it open quickly and they ducked inside with their fingers crossed that no one would be there to immediately greet them. They were banking heavily on the fact that the compound as a whole seemed to have a very small number of people working there.

When they had gone through the remaining rooms in the first building, they had attempted to estimate how many people were on the island. Some rooms looked more lived in than others, but that could also just be a case of someone who was better at putting their things away. Right now, they knew for sure of seven men: the four men who left for the dock, the guard, Wheatley and Wu. Based on the rooms, they were estimating that there were probably another three to five around. However, they were betting that the remaining people were mainly scientists, like Wu, and so they were hoping that would mean less people carrying guns.

At the moment, Owen was most worried about running into Wheatley again. After their last encounter, he was sure that Wheatley would definitely be of a mind to shoot first and never ask questions. While Owen was still armed with their tranq rifle, he really didn't want to be shooting anyone.

This time, they stepped into a small entryway with four doors, two on each side, suggesting the building was essentially divided into four quadrants. They could hear noise coming from the room to the immediate left, and so they both gravitated towards their right. The first door was closed, but it had a sign on the front that said _Armoury_. Owen pushed the door open and the two slipped in before he closed it behind them quietly.

"Why are we in here?" Claire asked, as Owen flipped on the lights, and they both blinked, adjusting to the brightness. "What's this room going to tell us?"

"Tell us?" Owen asked, already moving forward and looking over the gear. "Nothing. We have one rifle. I figured we should take a look at what they've got."

The room was well stocked and organized. There were a couple of gun cabinets, which Owen opened up. One was stocked with rifles; some that were for tranqs like the one he carried. The other cabinet had smaller hand guns. Owen was a little worried that the organization of the cabinets was going to make it easy for others to realize that weapons were missing, but he was just going to hope that no one was tracking all that carefully. He pulled out a couple of guns, handing one over to Claire after making sure the safety was on and keeping one for himself. Ideally, later, he'd give the one Claire was holding to Zia. It wasn't that he didn't trust Claire, its that he really didn't want her to have to shoot a person – she didn't need anything else that would add to the guilt she already carried. Besides, Zia was military trained and was likely a much better shot.

He grabbed a couple of boxes of ammo, stuffing one into a vest pocket and handing the other to Claire who just looked at him blankly.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" She hissed. "You made me leave my backpack."

"Just hold it for a second," Owen rolled his eyes, already moving to the next area of the room. It may have been called the armoury, but there was tactical gear in there too, like helmets, vests and gloves. And bags – duffle bags, gear bags and, ah ha, a few slim backpacks for carrying a small amount of gear. He grabbed one and handed it over to Claire, gesturing for her to put the ammo in there.

Lastly, he saw some basic baseball caps sitting on a shelf. He grabbed one and turned to Claire, who was adjusting the fit of the backpack and not paying attention to him. He reached out and plopped the hat on her head, causing her to startle slightly, before looking up at him.

"A hat?" Claire groaned, reaching up to pull it off. "I hate hats."

"Just trying to make you a little less obvious," Owen replied. "It doesn't look like there are any other women here, besides Zia. Your hair's a dead giveaway." He reached out, grabbing the brim of the hat and pulled it lower, before pausing. "Actually, do you think you can tuck your hair under it?"

Huffing, Claire pulled away from him, removing the hat before flipping her ponytail up and then pulling the cap back on. "Better?" she asked, her lips falling into a bit of a pout.

Owen nodded quickly, before looking away, trying to hide the wistful look that crossed over his face, memories of previous fights over hats flooding his mind. She was a redhead, and she burned almost instantly in the sun, and yet, she hated hats. Owen loved the outdoors, and Claire had been surprisingly willing to join him on hikes or to spend time hanging out by a lake or on a beach. However, they'd had numerous arguments over whether or not she needed to be wearing a hat. He rarely won.

Owen quickly did a final sweep of the area, but didn't see anything else worth picking up, and the two of them moved back towards the door. They turned the light off first, before Owen cracked the door open a smidge, checking that the entryway was still empty. It was, and they moved out, looking at the next door on their side. This one didn't have a name plate, and when they opened it, they discovered it was essentially a kitchen / eating area. On one side, there were a few fridges along the wall, along with a long countertop, a large oven/stove combo and a couple of microwaves. The other side was taken up by a few tables each surrounded by chairs. Except for a pile of dirty dishes in a sink, there was nothing remarkable about the room.

A sound behind caused them both to enter it anyway, closing the door mostly behind them, leaving a small crack they could peek out of. They watched as the man Owen knew as Wheatley left one of the rooms across the hall and then exited the building. After the door closed behind him, they waited a few minutes before they ventured out, not sure if he had been alone in the building. They crept across the entryway and peeked into the room he had just left. It looked a bit like a conference room, with a large table in the middle that was covered in stacks of paper, with a laptop sitting open at one end. The walls were covered with white boards, with a giant map of the island taking up a significant portion of one wall.

They were so taken in by what they were seeing, that they didn't even realize they had entered the room at first. Again, they split up, each pulled by a different area of the room. Owen heading straight to the map, while Claire was drawn to a whiteboard that had a large table drawn on it. The first column filled with dinosaur species. The second and third columns each had prices, although the values left her confused. The first value for the _T-Rex_ was $15 million and the second was $25 million. Those numbers didn't make any sense to her. Her job at Jurassic World had left her very familiar with the individual costs of the dinosaurs. The _Indominus Rex_ had been their most expensive endeavour at $26 million. As the _T-Rex_ was getting old, they had already been costing out what it would take to replace her, and the numbers were coming in much closer to $10 million. There was a fourth column that also had a number, but she didn't know what it meant. The _T-Rex_ column said '1' while the column for the _Velociraptor_ had a '4' that had been crossed out and replaced with a '1.' Other species just had question marks and no values.

"Hey Owen," Claire called out, her back to him. "What do you think this means?"

"Just a sec," Owen replied, still intently looking at the map he had moved to. There were notes around the side and areas on the map had been circled and starred. Some of the notes were about the terrain, such as the one detailing an area that was known to get really boggy and another indicating where the river was too dangerous to cross. Other notes talked about viewpoints, that this starred area gave a great overview of the valley to the east, while this other viewpoint allowed you to see all the way to the northern tip. The map was making him think of tourism, and giving guided hikes across the island. Except, who would be doing that? And on _this_ island, with _this_ group of people? No, he was definitely missing something.

Still thinking about it, he turned around to see what Claire was looking at. She was still standing at another whiteboard staring at numbers. He almost laughed, knowing how much she loved getting into the details and the number of times he'd caught her neck deep in spreadsheets, looking like she was having a blast. It was definitely not an interest that they shared.

"What are you looking at?" Owen asked, moving to stand beside her.

"I'm not sure," Claire said slowly. "I mean, the numbers don't make sense. These prices are way too high. And I don't know why there are two. And the third number? I have no idea what that number is referring."

Owen looked at the numbers carefully, although he didn't have the same context as Claire did as to what the dinosaurs had cost back on Jurassic World. He skimmed over the various rows and columns, a thought hovering on the edge of his subconscious, but he couldn't pull it forward. Looking at the rows, he started again at the top, hoping he could nudge the idea.

This time, as he got near the bottom, the _Velociraptor_ row, part of it came forward. "That last column," Owen said, pointing at the value for the _Velociraptor_. "I think it's a count."

"Count?"

"There were four _Velociraptors_ on Nublar–" Owen started, before Claire cut him off.

"But now there's only one," Claire paused, before turning to look at Owen. "But how do they know that? I mean, it wasn't made public how many of them died and I don't think anyone actually knew for sure."

"The tracking system?" Owen shrugged. "Not sure, but that makes the most sense. I mean there's only one _T-Rex_ , so that lines up. I don't really know what the values should be for the other species, or how many of them may be alive. But there are question marks next to some of them, which makes me think some of this is still a guess."

"Do you think they're planning on _selling_ the dinosaurs?" Claire said suddenly, her gaze focused back on the prices. "Finding the highest bidder? Putting them up for auction? Except…" she trailed off, still focused on the prices. "Except, why would they need two prices. Starting offer and what they hope to get?" She shrugged at her own answer, not satisfied.

"Wait!" Owen exclaimed, turning back to look at the map behind them for a second, before his gaze darted between the map and the whiteboard. "Ohh, I think I know what they're doing, and it ain't good," he groaned. "I think they're setting up trophy hunting."

"Trophy hunting?" Claire looked at him aghast, before looking back at the rows of numbers. "But why two prices?"

"There's the cost of the hunt," Owen explained, "And then the trophy fee if you're successful. I think it's supposed to be read as the first price is for just the hunt while the second price is what the total would be if they were successful."

"Would people really pay $25 million to kill a _T-Rex_?" Claire asked, the concept sounding so insane to her own ears. "I mean, I know some people have money to burn, but this seems crazy."

"If you want a trip to the International Space Station it costs about $175 million for private citizens through _Space Adventures_. That would make this look like pocket change," Owen shrugged. It wasn't money he ever expected to have access to in his lifetime, and even if he did, neither of these options appealed to him.

"I don't understand trophy hunting," Claire mused aloud, still looking at the numbers. "I mean, what's the appeal?" She turned to Owen with an eyebrow raised in question.

"Why are you looking at me?" Owen said. "I've never trophy hunted in my life."

"But you hunt," Claire persisted. "What's the draw?"

"Yeah, I hunt," Owen nodded. "But for food. I don't kill things for the sake of killing them and just so I can hang their head on a wall. There's a difference."

"Maybe," Claire gave a small shrug, not disagreeing with him but not agreeing either.

"You eat meat," Owen reminded her. "You can't be against killing animals for food."

"I know," Claire sighed. "I just try not to think about it too closely. Be careful," she gave him a bit of a grin, "Or next thing you'll know I'll convert to vegetarianism."

"Well, if we weren't already over, that would do it," Owen replied, the words tumbling out without a thought. He wasn't really aware of what he said until Claire's gaze snapped to his, a confused and hurt expression quickly flickering across it, before she straightened, locking away the emotions.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing then," Claire replied tightly. She turned away from him, moving over to the large table and starting to flip through the various papers strewn about. There was probably useful information on them, but she couldn't seem to focus on what she was doing, her hands moving automatically, as she blinked back tears that threatened to fall.

Behind her, Owen rubbed at his eyes, before one hand scrubbed across his cheek in frustration. He hadn't meant to say that. "Claire," he tried to get her attention, moving to take a step towards her, hand reaching out for her. He was interrupted by clicks on the radio.

Claire still had the radio and she grabbed it, sending back the two clicks immediately. There was a brief pause and then Lowery's voice came through sounding frantic. "Um, guys, I don't know where you are, but the bald guy who left the center building is headed back there."

* * *

 _I did some research to write this chapter. Reading up on trophy hunting just makes you realize just how despicable people can be. There are places that hand raise animals for trophy hunting, specifically so that they will be less afraid of the hunters and less likely to hurt the people coming to kill them. There's an article called "_ The Reality of Trophy Hunting" _on the T_ urpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge _website with lots of good (if disturbing) info._

 _And yes, as of 2017, it costs $175 million for a trip to the ISS! Just a smidge outside my price range. ;)_

 _Hope you're continuing to enjoy the small twists to FK. I've been trying to keep the story close to FK, but while fitting into my AU. Next chapter, the third building. Any predictions?_


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Come on," Owen hurried Claire, hand on her back as he directed her towards the door. He grabbed the radio from a stunned Claire at Lowery's words, thanking him before signing off, and was now trying to get Claire out of the room.

Claire was busy looking around the room, trying to figure out where to hide. But there was no closet, no cabinets, nothing. And she really didn't think the table was big enough for them to hide under. Her mind was so busy processing those options that she didn't even hear Owen at first, until she felt his hand on her back, shoving her across the room towards the door.

"We can't go out there!" Claire exclaimed, digging in her heels.

"We've got to move," Owen hissed in return. "Odds are, he's headed straight back to _this_ room." He gave her another push towards the door with a barked, "Move!"

They had barely moved into the entryway when they could hear the door knob turning. Owen had hoped to move them over to the armoury. He didn't know what was in the fourth room, and while he was betting Wheatley was headed back to the conference room, the kitchen seemed like a reasonable option too. But, with no time, he propelled Claire through the doorway beside them, into the fourth room. The room was a basic infirmary. There was an examination table in the middle and two sides were covered with long counters, with shelves above and below. They ducked around the examination table, grateful for its heavy solid base, and used it as cover, while they listened to the footsteps of Wheatley entering the building.

Crouched behind the table, peeking just over the edge, Owen flashed back to a similar situation with Claire three years ago. That time, as they crouched behind the old Jeep, they were hiding from a murderous dinosaur. This time, the threat was smaller but potentially just as deadly. Too bad that wasn't the only thing that changed in the past three years. Last time, he remembered Claire's hands on his arm, back and hips, as she clutched at him, relying on him for protection. And not just relying, but _trusting_ him to protect her. This time, if it wasn't for the quick glance over his shoulder showing Claire was still crouched beside him, he might as well be alone. There was a definite gap between them and Claire shifted further away when she caught him looking at her. He knew it was his fault, but that didn't make it any less painful. And so, even though it was really not the right place or time, he decided then and there that they _were_ going to finally talk about everything. They weren't going to leave things unsaid this time. No more of this "sort of together / sort of broken up." The decision made, he could actually feel some tension leave his body, shoulders relaxing marginally. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Claire looking at him, confused.

"Did I miss something?" Claire hissed. "I thought we were hiding from a guy with a gun. Why are you so relaxed?"

Owen bit his lip to keep himself from laughing. It wasn't that the situation was funny, but the thought that there was no one else he'd rather be with in it crossed his mind, even as she stared him down. "It's nothing," Owen dismissed, before giving her a small smile. "We'll be okay."

"Are you _high_?" Claire poked him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Never mind," Owen held his finger to his lips, shushing her as he listened quietly. From the sound of the steps, Wheatley had gone into the kitchen area after entering the building. There had been a minute of silence but they could hear him moving again, the sound of crunching following his movements. He must have grabbed a snack and it sounded like he was now moving back into the conference room. They heard a squeak as the door closed behind him.

After waiting a couple more minutes to see if he was going to move again, Owen reached over and grabbed Claire's hand, tugging lightly. He met her gaze and nodded towards the door.

"We can't leave." Claire pulled back. "He'll see us."

"We are sitting ducks in this building," Owen whispered back. "This is our chance to get out of here." He pulled on her hand again, already moving towards the door. This time, she followed willingly behind him. At the door, he opened it slowly, sticking his head out to confirm that Wheatley's door was closed. And it was, mostly. He could see the back of Wheatley's head through the crack, and quickly pulled Claire with him into the entryway and past the door. Carefully, they pulled the outside door open, and left the building, slowly closing the door behind them. Of course, now that they were outside, they were back exposed to anyone looking around. No wonder they had so few guards, they really didn't need them. There was nowhere great to hide.

Owen was tempted to head back towards Lowery, but there was still the third building. With Wu on the island, there was no way that the only thing going on was trophy hunting. And, considering Wheatley seemed to only have a small conference room for his operation, it was doubtful that trophy hunting was even the biggest thing happening. He spared a glance at Claire, before nodding in Lowery's direction. She shook her head and moved passed him, heading straight towards the third building.

Owen followed after her. This building they _knew_ wasn't going to be empty; it had to be where all the scientists were spending their days. There was a window in the front door, and glancing in Owen could see a much larger entryway that led into a long hallway that branched off to both the left and right. He couldn't tell where the doors he could see led, and there was going to be nowhere to hide once they entered.

The sound of motors, followed by three clicks on their radio had both Claire and Owen swinging their gaze around to look over towards Lowery. They could just make out the top of Lowery's head, as he was looking at them, but they didn't click back. When he saw them, he pointed to the gate and they moved their gazes over. The sound was getting louder, and they realized the crew that had left for the boats was returning. No time to think through their decision, they needed to move.

Opening the door, they quickly entered building three, carefully closing it behind them. This building had a bit of a hum, that recognizable sound of machines and people at work. They stepped forward carefully, aware that in this building, the doors had windows, and it was going to be much harder to escape notice. Claire reached up and tugged her hat down a little lower.

The guns from the armoury that they were still carrying were definitely something people would notice. There was nothing Owen could do about the tranq rifle, as it was too big to hide, but he pulled the gun from Claire's grasp and placed it, along with the one he was carrying and their radio, into her backpack. It wasn't ideal – he didn't like not having access – but he figured people would be more likely to dismiss them on a quick glance without them.

They continued to move forward, gazes jumping from side to side as they tried to map out the building. The first door they crossed looked into a lab. It reminded Owen of the main lab back in Jurassic World, where he had his first encounter with the raptors, back when they were still eggs waiting to hatch. Inside, there were four "nests" – machines that held somewhere between four and eight eggs – with a robotic arm that would rotate them throughout the day. There was a single scientist in the room, observing something at the back and typing notes on a tablet.

The next door they passed was labelled "embryo storage," and looked to be a small room with large metal containers inside, all covered in different warnings. The door had a couple of notices about who was allowed to enter and what protections they needed to take. They continued forward, and came to an intersection, where they could proceed forward or go left or right down shorter side hallways. A quick glance down the hallways and one side looked like it had bathrooms and a janitor closet. The other way looked to lead to an office. Claire nodded down that hallway, but Owen moved forward instead, wanting to get an idea of what else was in the building. There were two more doors, one on each side. On the right, there was what looked like a more generic lab and there were a couple of scientists along with Wu in there at work. On the left was a smaller room, and it looked to be a bit more of a conference / lounge area, with a couch along one wall and a big table in the middle. There were a few notebooks scattered across the table, and some diagrams on the whiteboard they could see.

Backing up, Owen agreed with Claire, and they moved down the hallway towards the small office. Entering the room, it was immediately clear to both of them that this was Wu's place. Not that they were surprised – of course he'd have a private office – but it was clean and minimalistic, just as Wu liked things. There was a computer on the desk, along with an amber paperweight, a phone, and a stylish pencil holder with a couple of fancy pens, but nothing to write on. Even looking around, they couldn't see any paper. If there was any, it was tucked away and out of sight. One wall had a large painting, another had a window to the outside, below which was a small cabinet. Along the third wall, there were a couple of folding doors, leading to a closet of some type.

Circling the desk and taking a look at the computer monitor, Claire gasped. Rounding the desk to stand beside her, Owen also took a look, only to find himself looking at, well, himself. On the screen was a paused video – a video that Owen remembered making. Well, not necessarily _that_ video, but the setup was familiar. He was sitting in front of a camera in the offices at the raptor paddock back on Jurassic World. It was where he'd record his thoughts and notes after each training session. Based on the smile frozen on his face, it must have been a good day.

"How does he even _have_ this?" Owen asked, still staring at the monitor.

"Is this what I think it is?" Claire replied. While she had been somewhat friendly with Owen before the Jurassic World incident (their paths had crossed on a few occasions, including their infamous date), she'd never been involved with the IBRIS project. It was an InGen project and Claire's responsibilities did not extend that far. Before the incident, she had a very vague idea as to what Owen had done. After the incident, she had learned more from him, including the chance to see a few select videos from his training days. But, as much as Owen had enjoyed talking about the raptors, he hadn't liked watching the videos, finding it too painful, knowing that three were dead and having no update on the status of the fourth, his favourite, Blue.

"Yeah," Owen breathed out. He grabbed the mouse, minimizing the video to see what else was open. There was a document in the background, but in front of that was a folder, listing all the videos. He scrolled down the list, skimming over the titles and dates. "This looks like _all_ of them. How did he…"

"I think that probably answers our question of whether or not InGen is still involved," Claire stated. "You had to submit these, right?"

Owen nodded tensely, "Yeah, technically."

"Technically?" Claire asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, technically it was a requirement that I supplied them with all updates. And I did, sort of," Owen looked a little defensive. "You knew Hoskins. I can't say I was completely innocent and never knew about the potential military hopes of his and the project, but that doesn't mean I was completely on board. Barry and I, we made two sets of the videos. The set we submitted, and then a second set that we kept for ourselves."

"You _lied_ to them?" Claire looked a little shocked.

"No," Owen shook his head. "We never lied. We just may have… left out some information." He sighed and shrugged. "We thought they were moving too fast. That they were overestimating how positive our results were. Hoskins loved to exaggerate. So, we were holding back, trying to slow them down." He looked at the list of videos on the screen, before moving the mouse cursor over to the document. He's about to click on it, when the phone on the desk rings, and both he and Claire jump, the sound startling them. After it rings a second time, they can hear footsteps, and Wu's voice calling instructions back to the other scientists.

They don't hesitate. Owen pulled the video back up while Claire moved straight for the closet. He ducked in after her and Claire reached around him and pulled the door shut, just as Wu entered the room. Owen tried to turn around, as he was now pushed up tightly against Claire, the closet space small and cramped. They had barely shifted when his elbow bumped against something, and he froze, worried he was going to knock something over. He could hear Wu answering the phone behind him, and Owen gave up on trying to turn around. Still pressed against Claire, he moved one arm forward to push against the wall behind her and relieve her of some of his weight.

Claire was trying to ignore the feeling of Owen so close again. This whole trip had been a kaleidoscope of emotions. Each moment, each look, was making her heart thud and her brain spin out new theories. Nothing made sense anymore. One moment he was confirming they had broken up, but then in the next he'd say something like "we'll be okay," which just confused her even more. Did he mean the two of them? Or everyone? If she hadn't been by his side all day, she would've been serious in her question of whether he was high. And now, with him leaning into her, the closet providing no room for either of them to shift away from the other, everything was getting jumbled again. Of course, then her mind had to flashback to _While You Were Sleeping_ and the conversation about _leaning_ , and she almost burst out laughing. Instead, she pressed her head forward against his shoulder, muffling her chuckles in his shirt. She could feel his head tilt down, and knew he was probably looking down at her confused, but she didn't have a response. She shrugged lightly against him, before collecting herself, because Wu was _right there_ and he was their best bet to find out what was really going on.

Claire had missed the start of the conversation; however, it was clear that Wu was reporting what had happened with Blue to whomever was on the phone. What she wouldn't give to know who he was talking to.

"We're pretty sure she'll live," Wu was saying. "That paleo-vet, Zia, was there and they brought her back as well. She had to remove the bullet and put in stitches." There was a pause before he added, "Of course I didn't _tell_ them to bring her back. She was already on the boat when I found out. But, we don't have anyone else here." There was a longer pause, before he interrupted the person. "No, no no. That's not good enough. The raptor is a behavioural specimen. We need her in good health."

A loud thump caused Claire to jump and Owen instinctively wrapped his arm around her (the one that wasn't supporting his weight against the wall, that is). It was probably Wu hitting his palm against his desk, but Claire could feel herself shaking ever so slightly. The firm pressure of Owen's hand on her back was undeniably soothing. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

"You don't have the faintest comprehension of what I'm doing here. Do you understand the complexity of creating an entirely new life-form?" Wu's voice had moved from calm to full-on irritated.

Claire looked up the same moment Owen looked down at her, both of their eyes wide. _New life-form? Oh god, it was happening all over again_ , was running through Claire's head. _What was Wu up to now?_

"All your money will have been wasted if I don't get Blue back in good health. To get the next iteration under control, it needs to form a familial bond with a closely-related genetic link," Wu was continuing to speak, calmly but forcefully.

The mention of Blue and familial bond had Owen tensing. Claire rested one of her hands on his back, rubbing small circles. The last thing she needed was for Owen to leap out of the closet and confront Wu. Not now, not until they had a better idea of what was going on and had a plan. The two of them against the 12 or so people on this island would not end well – not to mention what would happen to Zia and Lowery.

"It needs a _mother_! Blue's DNA will be part of the next _Indoraptor's_ makeup. So it will be genetically coded to recognize her authority and assume her traits. Empathy, obedience – everything the first prototype was missing."

Claire and Owen locked gazes again, and Owen mouthed " _a mother_?" while raising an eyebrow. Claire shrugged in return, equally confused, mouthing back, " _Indoraptor_?"

The sound of Wu scoffing drew their attention and they heard him say, "It's not a sprint, Mr. Mills. It's a marathon."

Claire's eyes went wide. _Mills? Eli Mills!?_

"Lockwood's flunky?!" Owen hissed, unable to stay quiet. "What the fuck, Claire?!"

"You have to understand," Wu continued in a condescending tone, "this is all uncharted territory. A wolf, genetically, is barely distinguishable from a bulldog, but within that gray area... is art."

Claire could barely stand to listen, as Wu babbled on about DNA and genetics, before he finally hung up the phone, slamming it on to the base with a muttered "What an imbecile."

Things were quiet for a moment, before they could hear Wu moving about the office. There was a moment where they both tensed, as Wu seemed to be hovering just outside the closet, before they heard him leave the room. They waited a couple minutes more, wanting to ensure that he wasn't coming back, before they opened the closet door. Owen turned Claire around and pulled their radio from the backpack, clicking away rapidly. Luckily, they got responses from the other two almost immediately.

"Lowery," Owen said urgently into the radio, "We need to know how it is out there. Where did the returning guys go?"

" _They unloaded some boxes and took most of the stuff into that center building. One went around back to the paddocks,_ " Lowery reported back. " _I can't see any of them right now._ "

" _Yeah, there's one back here,_ " Zia agreed. " _He's a few paddocks down from me and seems to be feeding the dinosaurs._ "

"Okay, we're about to head back to you Lowery," Owen told them. "If you see anything, send a bunch of clicks."

" _Roger,_ " Lowery replied.

" _Did you learn anything?_ " Zia asked.

"Yeah," Owen growled. "It's not good."

" _As to be expected,_ " Lowery summed up all of their thoughts.

"No kidding," Owen agreed. "See you in a few minutes."

* * *

 _Well, they've learned some more. The Mills-Wu convo is very close to the dialogue in the movie, with just a few changes. Time for Claire, Owen, Zia and Lowery to make a plan._

 _There are three more chapters to go. (I'm still debating if there will be an epilogue.)_

 _Thanks for all of you who have continued to be loyal readers and reviewers. And welcome to any new readers who are just picking this up over the holidays. Next chapter in 2019! (Can't_ wait _for this year to be over.)_


	14. Chapter 13

_As always, thanks to **Elise-Collier** for all her support and beta help. She's become an integral part of my writing process. _

**Chapter 13**

Claire and Owen darted out of the third building as fast as they could without drawing attention. With a watchful eye on the guard house, they stuck by the three buildings until they were close to Lowery's hiding spot. They then sprinted over, quickly ducking down behind the cover. Claire collapsed onto the ground next to Lowery, while Owen peered over the edges, confirming that no one had spotted them and was now headed their way.

Once he was satisfied that they had managed to stay undetected, he turned around and sat down as well, pulling his backpack towards him and digging around for a bottle of water. He nodded at the radio, "Get Zia."

" _Hey_ ," Zia replied quickly to the summons. " _The guy is still slowly moving along the paddocks feeding. I might have to go abruptly when he gets closer._ "

"No problem," Lowery said.

" _Any problems getting back out?_ " Zia asked.

"Nope," Claire answered. "Everyone seems pretty focused on their own jobs and not worried about even the possibility of visitors. My guess is the guard is really there to keep an eye out for any of the loose dinos on the island."

"Yeah, I'd buy that," Lowery nodded. "I've been trying to keep a bit of an eye on him while you guys were in there and he's barely moved. I'm not sure he's even really watching the security feeds."

"Well, that works in our favour," Owen shrugged.

" _So?_ " Zia asked. " _What happened? What did you learn?_ "

"There appears to be two different things going on here," Owen started.

"It's _Mills_!" Claire interrupted angrily. "It was a lie! It was _all_ a lie!"

Owen just looked at her, raising an eyebrow, before saying calmly, "Well… yeah."

"I can't believe it!" Claire continued. "Okay, I _can_ , but that doesn't make me any less angry."

"Wait, Eli Mills? The guy you had a meeting with at Lockwood's place?" Lowery clarified.

"Yeah, _him_ ," Claire spit out. "Wu was on the phone talking to him. They're making a custom dinosaur again."

" _Another_ hybrid?" Lowery was shocked. "But why? Didn't they learn anything from Jurassic World?"

"Oh, they learned," Owen groaned. "Just not the lesson we had hoped for. They've already got a name for it – the _Indoraptor_."

" _Indo– like the_ Indominus _?_ " Zia questioned.

"Maybe," Owen shrugged. "I think this one is going to be a whole lot more raptor though. Because they were talking about Blue. About this dinosaur needing a genetic link and a _mother_."

"A mother?" Lowery was confused. "Why?"

"They have my training videos," Owen sighed. "I talk a lot in the videos about the differences between Blue and the others. About how Blue is curious and hyper-intelligent. How she displays empathy. That Blue is the key and that if you have Blue, you can get the raptors to do anything."

" _Well, that explains why they weren't all that hard to convince to take me with them,_ " Zia said. " _I mean, they don't seem to have anyone here with medical knowledge. The closest is probably Wu, and he's…_ "

"PhD not MD," Claire agreed.

" _DVM, actually,_ " Zia inserted. " _But yeah, even an MD would be better._ "

"I thought _you_ had a PhD?" Lowery jutted in.

" _I do,_ " Zia said. " _I'm essentially a doctor squared._ "

Owen interrupted Lowery before he could retort. "That's great and all, but it doesn't help our current situation."

" _Well, what do you want me to do? Kill Blue so she can't be a mother?_ " Zia said.

"Wait, what?" Owen was shocked. "No. No, don't kill her!"

" _I wasn't going to,_ " Zia said, and they could all briefly hear Blue chittering through the radio. " _It was a joke. Besides, it's not like I have a gun or anything. Blue would kill_ me _before I could even lay a hand on her. But, we do need a plan._ "

"I thought you said there were _two_ things going on," Lowery inserted. "I mean, not that hybrid dinos aren't bad enough, but, well, do I even want to know what else?"

"Trophy hunting," Claire answered again before Owen could say anything. "The bald guy, Wheatley, looks to be setting up the island to be a very exclusive and expensive trophy hunting locale."

" _What!?_ " Zia's response was loud, and almost immediately after they could hear her talking to someone. They couldn't make out the other's voice, but they could still hear Zia clearly. " _What? You don't ever talk to yourself out loud? Hey, and when are you bringing food for Blue. I've been in here all day and you haven't given her anything. Can't you tell she's malnourished?_ "

The three sat quietly, not wanting to say anything and give away Zia's radio. They could hear what sounded like Zia pacing the cage along with a few trills and chitters from Blue. A minute passed, and then Zia hissed into the radio, "He's gone to get her food. I'm going to need a few minutes. I'll radio when he's gone."

"Okay," Owen agreed quickly, and then he put the radio down. He started digging around in his bag again. "I could eat, too," he said as he pulled out a Power Bar. Claire and Lowery both copied his actions, looking into their own bags for a snack. They sat there quietly munching away, waiting for Zia.

Claire was just putting away her empty wrapper when Zia came back on. " _I've got good news,_ " she started. " _This guy obviously doesn't seem to get I'm not here of my own free will. He didn't block my view when he put in the code for the outside gate._ "

"That _is_ good news. And one less problem," Owen nodded. "How's Blue doing?"

" _Eating like she hasn't eaten in weeks,_ " Zia replied, there was a slight hesitation before she added. " _What are we going to do about her? We can't leave her here. Not to be used as a mother to some hybrid disaster or to be an elusive trophy for someone with more money than brains._ "

"What are we going to do period?" Lowery stated. "There's only four of us and like 30 of them."

"Not 30," Claire disagreed, rolling her eyes at Lowery's exaggeration. "But yeah, we do need a plan. I don't know how we could take Blue with us. And even if we did, where would we take her?"

"Nublar?" Lowery offered.

"She wasn't thriving there," Owen reminded him. "I don't have an answer about Blue, not yet. But, even though I hate to say it, I don't think she's our first concern. We need to shut this whole thing down. If we can do that, then maybe the DPG can sort out what to do with Blue and the others."

"How do you suggest we stop them? Who do you even _call_ about something like this?" Claire asked, voice starting to quaver from panic. It was supposed to be an in and out mission. They were going to turn on some cameras, hopefully figure out from some snooping around on the computers what was going on, and then go home. They were not supposed to be on a different island dealing with Wu and hybrid dinosaurs _again_.

"I think we need to focus on two things," Owen answered slowly. "If we can slow them down and buy ourselves time, we can figure out the rest of it. Wu's here. You've been saying ever since he disappeared that he must be still working for InGen, right?" Owen looked at Claire for confirmation.

"Yeah, he's got to have someone funding what he's doing. And I don't think InGen would be protecting him if they weren't getting something out of this still, but–" Claire cut herself off, debating something. She sighed and then finished. "I'm still not quite clear on the Mills connection. I mean, Lockwood and Hammond were partners at one point, but they split years and years ago."

"But Wu's been there from the start," Lowery spoke up. "I mean, I think he's been involved since the first recreated dinosaur. So he would know Lockwood. And Hammond's been dead for almost two decades now. There would be nothing to prevent Wu from reaching out to Lockwood."

"Yeah, but I don't think Lockwood would agree to any of this," Claire shook her head. "It's not just that he's old and doesn't need the money, but when I saw him, he was talking about redemption. Like he was trying to fix old mistakes. And this," Claire gestured around them, " _this_ is not fixing old mistakes. This is making new ones."

" _But Mills is in charge of spending his fortune,_ " Zia reminded them. " _Wu doesn't need Lockwood. He just needs Mills._ "

"An 'idealist,'" Claire groaned, shaking her head. "But yeah, that makes sense. And InGen didn't get away scot-free from the fallout. They took a pretty substantial financial hit. They could've been looking for a new investor."

"But why make a hybrid dinosaur?" Lowery asked. "I mean, the trophy hunting I can at least understand. I don't agree with it, but I _get it_. But I don't understand hybrid dinosaurs. Shouldn't that be a failed experiment relegated to the dregs of history now?"

"I wish," Owen nodded. "But, even back on Jurassic World, IBRIS always had a military connection. And if you're looking at dinosaurs from a military perspective, the _Indominus_ didn't fail. I'm not saying it was a complete success, but they did make something that turned out to be really hard to kill. Exactly what you'd want in a military weapon. Combine that with the IBRIS research, and you've got a clear path to follow to make a militarized dinosaur that can follow directions. I showed them the way." He looked away from the other two briefly, wringing his hands. "This one's all on me."

"That's not true," Claire said softly, laying a hand on his arm, getting his attention as his gaze met hers. "If Jurassic World isn't all on me, you can't take this on." She squeezed lightly, and after a moment he nodded. They both knew that wasn't going to end the guilt, but there wasn't time to focus on it now.

" _Backing up,_ " Zia said, breaking the silence that had descended over the group. " _You said two things. Slowing them down and what?_ "

"Slowing them down and gathering evidence," Owen answered. "We can't stop them. Not just the four of us. But we can do some selective sabotage to buy us time to find the right people who can. We'll just need evidence of what's going on here. No one's just going to take our word for it."

"Don't forget everything _we're_ doing right now is _also_ illegal," Lowery muttered.

"Right," Owen agreed. "And since we don't want to just end up in jail ourselves, we need clear and convincing evidence on others so the authorities aren't focused on us."

"Video is probably best," Claire said, her mind already at work. "People can fake anything these days, but video is still the hardest. And if we show ourselves in it too, that will help. If we can get some of the actual docs, not just photos, that would also be good..."

" _Sabotage is all well and good, but aren't we stuck here?_ " Zia asked. " _Actually, how_ did _you guys get here?_ "

"We've got a boat," Owen dismissed her concerns. "If we can get out of this compound, getting off the island won't be a problem."

"We're going to need a distraction," Lowery inserted. "When we're done – something that will get the guard away from the gate so we can get out."

"I know what we should do," Claire said with a quick smile. "We should let Stiggy out."

" _Stiggy?_ " Zia asked. " _Who's Stiggy?_ "

"Well, I suppose it might not be _Stiggy_ they captured but a different _Stiglymoch_ ," Claire said. "If they are even slightly agitated, they can be pretty destructive running around, what with that head they have."

"That could work," Owen nodded. "But, that probably means sacrificing the dinosaur. I'm not sure how long they'll stick to non-lethals."

"Oh," Claire's smile dropped. "Let's figure something else out then."

"We could probably set a fire in one of the labs or something," Lowery suggested. "Anywhere really. Smoke always gets people running."

"I think we'll need to play it a bit by ear," Owen tried to move the discussion forward. "See where people are and what we manage to do. We can't do much right now anyway. Not when everyone's up and about. They'll catch on too quickly. And we're really lucky that we haven't been spotted yet. We're probably going to need to wait until it's dark. We need access to both buildings two and three, which is where everyone is right now."

"But, if we want video of the caged dinosaurs we should be getting that _now_ ," Claire pointed out, looking around. "We're going to be using phones and we want people to actually be able to _tell_ they're looking at dinosaurs. If we wait until tonight they'll just be dark blobs in a dark space."

" _Heads up, the guy is done with feeding_ ," Zia informed them. " _He looks like he's heading back around the buildings._ "

Claire peeked over the edge just as the guy was coming around the building. She immediately dropped back down out of sight and nodded to the other two that she'd seen him. They waited a couple of minutes and when she peeked over the top again she saw him disappearing into the second building.

"Okay, he's inside," Claire let Zia know. "If we're going to get some video, now is probably our time to do so." She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, powering it on. "I can go get it."

"No!" Owen shook his head, reaching for her phone. "I'll do it."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking videos on my phone," Claire pulled the phone from his grasp.

"And what are you going to do if someone sees you?" Owen reached for it again.

"What are _you_ going to do?" Claire shot back. "Either of us get caught and we're screwed."

" _I can do it_ ," Zia suggested. " _I know the code, I can get out._ "

"They didn't take your phone?" Claire asked, surprised.

" _Ugh, forgot about that_ ," Zia groaned. " _Yeah, they took it._ "

"I'll get it, it won't take long," Claire repeated. She turned to look at Owen, who was ready to argue again. "Besides, it's my phone."

"Well, I could just take Lowery's tablet," Owen said, reaching for it as he spoke. Lowery quickly pulled it in to his chest, hugging it tightly.

"Hey, leave me out of this," Lowery shook his head at the others.

"I'm going," Claire stated firmly, picking up the radio that she and Owen had shared. "We _need_ this video – it can't be like that bear we saw."

"You saw a bear?" Lowery asked, confused. "Here?"

"Not here," Claire rolled her eyes. "Like a year and a half ago on a hike. I'd love to show you. Owen here," she gestured towards him, "said he got it all on video. But, when we went to watch it, what did we find?" She looked at Owen, but he refused to answer, looking away from her gaze. "Oh, that's right. _Nothing_." She turned to Lowery and shrugged. "We agreed afterwards that I'd be in charge of photos and videos."

"I don't think that agreement extends to here," Owen muttered, annoyed.

"Too late," Claire said, before sprinting to the corner of the nearest building, and then disappearing around it.

She wasn't gone long. She took one continuous video. She started by filming herself, explaining that she was on Isla Sorna after they had discovered Dr. Henry Wu and others were poaching dinosaurs from Nublar. She glossed over how they discovered that. She then went from paddock to paddock, explaining what dinosaur was inside and getting a few seconds of video of it, before moving on. At Blue's paddock, she had Zia talk to the camera about how Blue had been shot and she was helping to take care of her. Zia also mentioned that Blue was malnourished, which was evidence that not all of the dinosaurs were thriving on their own.

After Claire had finished her video, she stopped by to talk to Zia once more, to make sure that her friend really _was_ okay and check on her to see if she needed anything. She'd brought along an extra protein bar with her, in case Zia didn't have food, but they had left her snacks alone. She didn't stay long, knowing that every moment she was out there increased her chances of getting caught. She said a quick goodbye to Zia (and gave a wave at Blue, who had been watching the two) and headed back to the others.

By the time the sun was disappearing below the horizon, Claire, Owen and Lowery were all getting anxious. All of them desperately wanted to stand up and get out of their small hiding spot. They had been trying to figure out when would be the best time for Zia to leave her "cage." She'd been still hanging out there, because they knew that the moment she was out and someone went to check on the animals, people would be looking for them. (Well, not _all_ of them, but they didn't need people looking for _anyone_.)

They'd been periodically trying to track everyone's whereabouts, but it was difficult as they couldn't keep watch on all three buildings, not without giving themselves away. So far, they had watched as the guard had been swapped out by one of the men who had gone on the supply run. As darkness started to settle over the compound, they started to hear voices, and watched as the scientists started to leave the third building, heading towards the second one, likely sorting out dinner. Most of the men from the supply run seemed to have spent the afternoon in that center building, and about an hour later, they watched as people start trickling towards the first building, likely going to hang out in the lounge.

They waited another hour, until it was after nine and they hadn't seen any movement (and couldn't, from their hiding spot, tell that any lights remained on in buildings two and three), before making their move. They knew they needed to work fast, to minimize the chances that they were discovered. Earlier, they had decided to split into two teams. Zia and Lowery were going to go into building two and take pictures and video of the trophy-hunting, while Claire and Owen were going to go straight to building three to start the sabotage. They hadn't been able to come up with a good plan on how to sabotage the trophy-hunting, except to expose it. But the lab would provide lots of opportunities.

When they were ready, they gathered up their gear, donning their backpacks. They expected they would be leaving in a hurry, and didn't want to have to try and grab stuff on their way out. The men seemed to have forgotten about Zia (that, or they just didn't care), so they had her use the code she had learned earlier and she met them in front of building two. Owen handed over one of the two guns they had taken from the armoury to Zia, keeping the second gun and rifle for himself. Then, after confirming that everyone knew the plan (including how to find the boat if separated), they split off, with Zia and Lowery ducking into the building while Owen and Claire continued onto the next.

The entryway was dark when Zia and Lowery entered, the building silent. They both gave sighs of relief, knowing that they weren't about to walk directly into a confrontation. Each pair had a single headlamp to share (something that Owen and Zia had packed, but neither Lowery or Claire had thought of). Zia pulled hers out, but kept it hand held, to keep the light aimed low and not immediately noticeable through the windows. They headed straight to the first room on the left, as Claire and Owen had instructed.

Once inside the conference room, they coordinated together to take video, with Lowery using his tablet to film and Zia lighting the way with her headlamp. They made sure to get a good view of the map, including a bunch of pictures of the notes as well as a long shot of the whiteboard with the prices. They also took some time to sort through the papers on the desk, trying to find any "smoking guns." There weren't any pamphlets, which they knew would've been too easy, but they did find some documents that included the words trophy and hunting, even if not paired together. The oddest thing they found was a handkerchief laid out on the table with a small collection of teeth resting on top. "Dinosaur teeth," Zia had said with a low whistle when she found it. "Man, this guy is sick." All in all, they spent about 20 minutes going through the room.

As they left, they turned off the headlamp before they headed outside to make their way over to the the third building. They had just closed the door behind them, and were about to move towards the other building, when suddenly lights were turned on, spilling out into the dark night through the buiding's windows. Zia and Lowery shared a nervous look, not sure if they should follow or not. Was this the sort of situation that meant they should head for the boat?

"Should we–?" Lowery nodded towards the gate, but he looked reluctant to even follow his own suggestion.

"Let's see what's happening," Zia pointed to the other building. Lowery nodded, and the two hurried over. Just as they were pulling the door open, they heard Claire yell angrily, "Back off, Henry!"

* * *

 _Only a couple of chapters and an epilogue (yep - I came up with one) left! Can't believe this journey is almost over. Hope you've been enjoying the ride as much as I have._


	15. Chapter 14

__Thanks to **Elise-Collier** for jumping in with some line suggestions for the two spots where I had comments of "I hate this line." They're much better now and the story has a better flow. __

_Oh, I made a minor edit to the last chapter - changed it from "Back off, Wu!" to "Back off, Henry!" as I was re-watching JW and realized Claire said to Hoskins "Where's Henry?"_

 **Chapter 14**

After watching Lowery and Zia enter the second building, Claire and Owen continued to the third. From the outside, the building was dark, and so they pulled open the front door and slipped inside. Similar to Zia, Owen pulled out his headlamp and flicked it on, keeping the light aimed low to guide their path. It wasn't as necessary in this building as it was in the other. While there weren't any lights on, the doors to the various rooms all had windows, and through the windows they could see bits of glowing light coming from the various machines and computers in the rooms.

Owen led them straight for the room that was labelled "Embryo Storage." Inside, he started pulling open the first freezer he came too, yanking out the samples and dropping them onto the ground where he stomped on them.

"Owen!" Claire exclaimed. "We're supposed to be gathering evidence."

"And sabotage," Owen huffed, stomping on another pile he'd dropped. "If this is ever going to end, if Wu's ever going to be stopped, these samples can't exist."

"But–" Claire wanted to disagree. She had built her entire career off the backs of these dinosaurs. She still believed that everything Hammond and Lockwood had done was incredible. And she wasn't quite ready to dismiss it all; at least, not so easily or readily as Owen appeared able to do. Starting with the original cloning experiments of Hammond and Lockwood before Jurassic Park and continuing up through Jurassic World, the scientists – specifically, the geneticists – had made undeniably impressive gains. They had pushed the boundaries of known science and broken through to a new frontier. She didn't find it easy to just throw away all that knowledge.

"No, Claire," Owen paused, turning to face her and shaking his head. "This _has_ to stop. Wu, InGen, Mills… they aren't the only people who are guided more by money and ego than anything else. If this stuff still exists? There will _always_ be someone else. Someone with too much money and dreams of playing God. Someone who just wants to see _if they can_ , not caring _if they should_. This knowledge will never be safe."

"The end of the dinosaurs," Claire said softly, watching as Owen started pulling out samples from the next freezer and stomping those ones as well.

"They went extinct for a reason," Owen said. "They had their time. It wasn't right for us to bring them back."

"And Blue?" Claire asked, her gaze shifting towards the general direction of Blue's paddock.

"Blue, and the others that are still alive…" Owen sighed. "I wish there was an easy answer. I worry that keeping them alive is equivalent to keeping these samples. But… they're _alive_."

"We created them, how can we abandon them?" Claire smiled wanly. At Owen's furrowed brow, she elaborated. "It's one of our slogans at the DPG."

Claire watched as Owen tried to hurriedly, yet systematically, move through the freezers and destroy the samples. She couldn't bring herself to help him, but she didn't try to stop him either. It took a few minutes more, but soon Owen was satisfied enough, that he was ready to move onto the next room.

Across the hall was the room containing the "nests." They paused, looking in through the window in the door. "I don't think I can stomach destroying the eggs," Claire whispered. "We don't know how close they are to hatching."

"What if there's an _Indoraptor_ in there?" Owen asked. "Can we really afford for that to be born?"

"We don't even know for sure if they've started making one. Or how far along they are," Claire argued. "If they need Blue, and her DNA, I don't think it can be that far yet. Are we going to condemn a creature before birth? Let's deal with the other areas first."

Owen gave one last look at the eggs sitting clustered in "nests" before nodding, and moving away. They continued down the hall, stopping where there was the short hallways off to the sides, one leading to Wu's office. Their plan was to gather up any lab notebooks they could find to create a fire as a distraction for their getaway. But, that was the last step. First, they needed more evidence. Proof that Wu and his fellow scientists were up to no good. Even better, if they could find documentation also pointing the finger at InGen and Mills.

Turning together, they headed straight for Wu's office. Claire moved to flip on the light switch, but Owen grabbed her arm lightly to stop her. "There's a window," he reminded her, pointing at it and Claire let her arm drop back to her side.

Moving more fully into the room, they both headed straight for the computer. Quickly wiggling the mouse, they waited impatiently for the screen to flicker back on, only to see the login screen.

"Really?" Claire sighed, "This is where they actually put a password?"

"He's probably afraid of the other scientists taking credit for his work," Owen shrugged, moving away from the computer towards the cupboards under the window. He pulled open the doors and started looking through the contents. It looks to be used as a storage cabinet for some lab supplies as well as user manuals, likely for the various machines they had seen in the other rooms. Nothing useful or incriminating. He moved on to the next set of drawers, sparing a glance over his shoulder at Claire, who was sitting at the desk, staring at the computer thoughtfully.

"If I were Henry..." Claire was saying softly, her gaze looking from the computer to the items on the desk.

"If you were Wu–" Owen started to reply, but he cut himself off, as they heard the outer door opening followed by the sound of footsteps. He quickly turned his headlamp off, but the light from the computer, still sitting on the login, shone brightly, a beacon to whoever had entered the building.

The light in the hallways turned on, and – moments later – Wu was in the doorway, flipping on the office light, gaping at the two of them. "What the–? How the–?"

Owen barely managed to suppress his chuckle, he had never seen Wu lose his composure before. The few times he had interacted with him, he'd always thought the guy was a bit of an egotistical jackass. He'd walk around with his perfect posture, acting like he was above everyone else. Owen knew, especially from conversations with Claire after the Jurassic World incident, that Wu did actually believe that. After 30 years of being on the leading edge of genetics research, from saving animals on the edge of extinction, to bringing back dinosaurs, and to now doing very specific gene manipulation to create hybrids, Owen also knew that Wu believed he had earned the right to be treated and seen as almost God-like.

Wu took a deep breath, before starting over. "Ms. Dearing. Mr. Grady. _Why_ are you in my office? And _how_ are you on this island?" He took a step further into the office.

Claire stood up from behind the desk, standing tall, and Owen moved to stand just slightly behind her. As much as he wanted to reply, he knew Claire would have a much smarter response than him. But he wanted Wu to be very clear that he was _right there_ , fully supporting her.

"Why? One guess. How? By boat," Claire smiled sweetly back at him, knowing her response would just annoy him.

"You're not allowed on this island," Wu tried, taking another couple of steps closer, until he was standing on the other side of his desk. "It's private property."

"Then I guess we're trespassing," Claire rolled her eyes. "I think that should be the least of your worries. We know what you're up to."

"I'm sure you _think_ you know what's going on," Wu brushed her comment aside, picking up the amber paperweight off his desk, "but I have no doubt that you're wrong."

"Hey, put that down," Owen said, taking a step closer to the desk and Claire.

"What, this?" Wu held up the paperweight, before rolling his eyes at Owen. "What do you think I'm going to do? I'm not some neanderthal."

"Don't test me," Owen growled, raising the gun he'd been carrying.

"Owen," Claire said warningly, reaching out with one hand to push down lightly against the arm holding the gun, encouraging him to lower it.

"You should listen to her," Wu nodded, before taunting Owen. "The " _boss_ " doesn't like to be challenged.

"Back off, Henry!" Claire yelled angrily, knowing he wasn't helping the situation. She was surprised when almost immediately, the sound of footsteps echoed through the building again. Wu looked pleased at the sound, and Claire's heart dropped. Who was coming now?

"Whoa!" Lowery came to a sudden halt in the doorway, gaze jumping between Owen's gun and Wu. His stop was abrupt enough that Zia crashed into him, causing the two to stumble a couple of steps into the room.

Claire wasn't sure if she should be relieved or annoyed by their presence. She had been expecting to see some of the other workers on the island, which she knew wouldn't have been good for her and Owen. She had been hoping that Lowery and Zia would've been able to get out of the compound and call for help (preferably from the safety of the boat).

Wu, on the other hand, was definitely not pleased by their presence. The room only had the one entrance (unless you counted the small window), and they were both blocking it. Once Zia came to a stop, she grabbed the gun Owen gave her and now had it training on Wu, following Owen's lead.

"Really?" Wu looked put out. "Is all this pageantry necessary?" He glanced between Zia and Owen, before calmly putting the paperweight back down. "I have to say, you have more faith in my abilities than I do, if you seriously thought I could take you out with a paperweight while you have guns."

"People can do impressive things when backed into a corner," Owen shrugged, not lowering his weapon.

"Well, now you've got me surrounded," Wu said. "What's your plan? Walk me out of here at gunpoint? There's more of us than there are of you."

"I just don't get it," Claire replied, still focused on everything they had learned that day. "You've been involved since practically the start. You know what happened at Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. And what's happened right _here,_ at Site B before. Your first hybrid destroyed this island. Your second took out Jurassic World. Why would you ever even think of creating a third?"

Wu chuckled. "Oh, Claire," he shook his head, almost with a fondness. "Never able to quite see the big picture, are you?"

"I've seen the big picture," Claire disagreed. "I feel guilty for what went down on Nublar – I was part of the chain of events. But I've _learned_ from my mistakes. I'm not trying to repeat them."

"I'm _not_ repeating mistakes," Wu looked offended. "Every dinosaur I've made has been an improvement on the last. And the _Indoraptor_ – it will be my finest creation. See," Wu looked particularly pleased with himself. "We solved the problems we had with the _Spinosaurus_ with the _Indominus_. And while you may see the _Indominus_ as a failure, I focus on the successes. Like its ability to camouflage and hide from the infrared tracking system. And its intelligence! I mean, Mr. Grady here opened our eyes to just _how_ intelligent the raptors are, but the _Indominus_? The raptors never managed to pull tricks anywhere _near_ the level of the _Indominus_."

"That's what you think," Owen muttered and Claire shot him an angry glare.

"But, that's not all," Wu was on a roll now and fixed his gaze on Owen. "Your raptor research has opened the door so much wider. Not only did you demonstrate that raptors could be controlled–"

"We _never_ had them under control. Jesus, Wu! Here you're trying to tell us to learn, and you're still missing the _main lesson_ from my work." Owen couldn't hold back any longer. "How many times do I have to say, _it was a relationship!_ "

"However you want to word it," Wu dismissed Owen with a wave of his hand, "it resulted in the same thing. Raptors who followed commands. Who you were able to _hunt_ with. Who gave _you_ loyalty over the _Indominus_." Wu shifted his eyes back to Claire. "All of this information, it's making each iteration better. The next one, the _Indoraptor_ , will be smaller. We understand the socialization needs better, and this one will have a mother. It will learn, the same way Mr. Grady's raptors learned."

"You don't get it," Claire sighed, looking down for a second, gathering her thoughts. "You're still focused on the wrong things. You've never stepped back and just asked yourself, _why_? Why are you making these? What is the point? What are we gaining from all of this?" A movement from the corner of her eye caused her gaze to shift from Wu to Lowery, who was facing her with his tablet and giving her a giant thumbs up. What was he up to? She didn't have time to consider it, as she turned back to Wu. "I've had these conversations. And I still _do_ believe the work of bringing back these dinosaurs has been hugely important. The knowledge we've gained alone makes it worth it. But," Claire stood up straighter. "But there has to be a line. And the _Indominus_ crossed it. And this?" She waved her hand around, gesturing to the room and compound. "This is way over the line. You're not being driven by some higher goal, some altruistic end. You're doing what you're doing for you alone, damn the consequences."

"Now wait a second," Wu took a step forward, his hands coming up in defense as Owen and Zia raised their guns, which they had allowed to drop over the course of the conversation, at him again. "We are _saving_ the dinosaurs here. You were on Nublar. You must know what's happening there. They're not thriving. At least _we're_ protecting them. So much for your little group." Wu scoffed. "All you've done is arts and crafts. We're doing _real_ work here."

"Hey!" Zia exclaimed. "We've done way more than that."

Claire had to stifle a smile, she'd been wondering how long Zia was going to be able to remain quiet. She ignored Zia's line, still focused on Henry's idea of "protection." "You call _trophy hunting_ 'protecting the dinosaurs'?What world do you live in? You're not saving anything. You're putting fish in a barrel and letting people pay you millions to be allowed to shoot them."

"Trophy hunting is a known conservation tool," Wu offered as a defense.

"That line is old and tired," Claire sighed. "It's been debunked over and over again. Giving a portion of the money to charity and conservation efforts is merely a way to reduce some of the guilt. Trophy hunting _drives_ exactly what you're doing. Raising animals in captivity just for people to kill. It's not about helping them. You raise them around humans so they're less likely to kill the hunters. You use what you taught them against them. It's sick."

"You can act all high and mighty, like you're above all of this," Wu replied. "But you were at Jurassic World since it opened. You clawed your way to the top of the ladder there, and I witnessed your meteoric rise. You can't hide from me what you did or _didn't_ do over the years." He chortled as his eyes glinted mischievously. "Remember, _I_ was there."

"I never said I haven't made mistakes," Claire said tightly. "I don't pretend that I didn't play a role in the Jurassic World incident. But I'm–"

"Hey! What's going on in here?" They were all startled by an interloper shouting. The five of them had been too focused on what was going on in the office they had all missed the sound of the door opening and heavy boots on the floor.

Behind Lowery and Zia, in the small hallway were a couple of the workers. Owen vaguely recognized them from Nublar. The moment they caught sight of Owen and Zia's guns, they raised their own. Owen kept his own gun aimed at Wu, but Zia shifted targets.

Now that Lowery had turned, Claire could see that he was recording a video on his tablet. She was happy he'd thought of that. Despite clutching her own phone in her hand, the idea hadn't even crossed her mind. She hoped he managed to record most of Wu's speech.

"Put down your gun," one of the men demanded of Zia.

"Why?" Zia questioned. "So you can shoot me? Lower yours!"

"What are you doing in here?" Wu questioned the two men.

"There's a helicopter," the first man explained. "We weren't expecting it and wanted to know if you were."

"A helicopter?" Wu looked confused. "At night?"

"Yeah, and it's got a big searchlight on it, like it's looking for something," the second man added. He was looking nervous. "No one knows why it's here. It's not yours?"

"No," Wu replied slowly, his own confident stance slackening.

"Wait, then who would be here? And why?" the first man asked frantically, just as they heard, again, the front doors open. It was followed by the sound of many boots rushing into the building.

"I want everybody to freeze!" A deep voice yelled.

Claire's gaze darted towards Lowery, who was smirking. He raised his tablet, aiming at the two men in the hallway. Moments later they could see the new people, and Claire recognized the uniforms as U.S. Navy. What were _they_ doing there? She turned back to Lowery, who caught her eye as he slowly panned the tablet around the room. He then said with a beaming grin, "Wave to everyone watching – we're live!"

* * *

 _This chapter and the next were a huge struggle to write. Although, re-reading them as I edit, I like them more and more. One of my first ideas for this fic was to have Franklin (before I changed him to Lowery) to do the live-stream. I wanted to give his character more of a role._

 _I really hope you enjoyed it! Only one more chapter and an epilogue left! I feel like time has flown by._


	16. Chapter 15

_I can't believe this is the last chapter. Back when I was calculating approximately how many chapters this would be and when I'd finish posting, January felt so far away. And yet, here we are. There is the epilogue - it'll be posted on Saturday, so it's not quite over yet. Hope you enjoy. :)  
_

 **Chapter 15**

Claire still wasn't quite sure how she went from confronting Wu about hybrid dinosaurs to sitting at a table in the "kitchen" of building two with a steaming mug of coffee placed in front of her. The arrival of the first helicopter of Navy men was followed quickly by a second. The men and women had quickly swarmed over the compound and taken charge.

In a blur of activity, they had rounded up everyone, dividing them between the rooms and buildings. Wheatley and his pals were being held in the lounge over in the first building. Wu was being kept in his office, while the other scientists were in the conference room over in the third building. Claire, Owen, Lowery and Zia had been moved into the kitchen in the middle building.

Even with the division complete, things hadn't settled down. No one seemed to be sure exactly what to do and how to move forward. The last Claire had heard from Wu, as they were being shepherded out of the building, he'd been yelling that the Navy had no jurisdiction and were trespassing. To be honest, she wasn't sure if he was wrong. They weren't on American soil, after all.

Once they had been moved to the kitchen and told to _stay there_ , they were left alone. Owen had been the one who got up and made coffee, filling mugs and digging out cream and sugar and placing it on the table. No one had said much, not really sure what to say or even what was going on. It felt like they were all waiting for someone else to make the first move.

Sighing, Claire reached for her mug, cradling it between her hands. It was a warm night, but as the adrenaline left her system, she was finding herself feeling cold. Cold and tired and ready to be home.

To think that only a week ago, her biggest concerns had been figuring out how to solve the funding problem for the DPG and working up the courage to confront whatever was happening between Owen and herself. Now, well...now, her life contained hybrid dinosaurs, _again_.

The fallout from Jurassic World had felt like it was never going to end. They had been lucky and only a few visitors had actually died. While there had been a raft of injuries, they were mostly relatively minor, caused more by people stampeding than by actual dinosaurs. She had a sneaking suspicion that the fallout from this might be just as messy and just as big. Sure, it didn't involve 20,000 innocent visitors (thank god), but all the questions that had been brushed aside after Jurassic World, that had been left to be dealt with _later_ … Well, later had definitely arrived.

Although – Claire couldn't prevent the small laugh, bordering on hysterical, that escaped her throat – she was pretty sure the DPG's funding problem was about to disappear. Lowery's foresight to start livestreaming the confrontation with Wu was probably going to save them all. Pushing her mug away from her, she crossed her arms in front of her, letting her head drop down to rest on them. What she wouldn't give to be able to crawl into a ball and hide from the world for a few hours. Just enough time to regroup her thoughts and sanity.

There was no time for that, as the door to the kitchen opened and a couple of men walked in. Claire sat back up, resting heavily against the back of her chair. What now?

"The others aren't talking," the first man – a lieutenant, by the insignia on his shoulders – said, coming to stand across from them. "We've got a boat arriving at the docks with more personnel. Is there anything we should know before we have them step foot on the island?"

"Yeah," Owen spoke for the group. "We came across a _Baryonyx_ outside the compound. We're not sure how many dinosaurs may be loose."

" _Bary…_ the dinosaur, is that one a carnivore?" the lieutenant asked, stumbling over the species name.

"Yes," Owen nodded. "We shot it with a tranq dart, but that should've worn off by now. I can show you on a map approximately where we encountered it."

"Yeah, that would be helpful," the officer nodded. "What about the dinosaurs that are in the paddocks here? Anything we should know about them?"

"Don't get too close?" Zia suggested sarcastically. Off the man's unimpressed look, she added. "No, sir, they should be fine. I would like to take a look at all of them in the morning, when there's more light. Blue, the _Velociraptor_ , has an injury and she was malnourished when we found her. I'm not sure of the state of the rest of them."

"Okay, and you are…?"

"Dr. Zia Rodriguez. I'm a paleo-vet," Zia answered, posture stiffening. She hated being underestimated, a way too common occurrence.

"Great," the man turned back to look at Owen. "Could you come with us, show us the location of the dinosaur on a map?"

"Sure," Owen pushed his chair back, standing up. He gulped down the rest of his coffee, before leaving his mug on the table and following the men out of the room.

As the door shut behind them, it was Lowery who broke the silence that was resettling over the group. "I'm so tired," he moaned. "How long do you think this is going to take?"

"Days," Zia replied.

"Try months," Claire scoffed.

"What else do they need? I got Wu essentially confessing on camera. Live!" Lowery complained. "They should let us go."

"And where exactly do you plan on going?" Zia asked him. "I didn't think you'd be so keen to go wandering around this island in the dark."

"I'm not," Lowery agreed. "But I could definitely go for a bed. The _Jurasship_ had some pretty nice ones." He fiddled with the empty mug sitting in front of him, before leaning forward and grabbing the carafe and refilling it. "I wish they hadn't taken my tablet. Our twitter feed must be going _nuts_."

"Live streaming," Claire shook her head in disbelief. "That was ingenious. Probably your best decision ever."

"Yeah, you probably saved us all," Zia added.

"I bet it's going _viral_ ," Lowery nodded, a satisfied grin on his face, before it dropped with a realization. "And the fallout is all in the hands of our _interns_."

"They'll be fine," Claire reassured him. "Besides, viral things take on a life of their own. Everyone's going to be waiting for the next bit of news, the next video. As soon as we get our stuff back, we'll be able to take control and try to direct the narrative."

"Let's hope it's soon," Lowery replied. "It'll get harder to regain control the longer we go without giving more information. It's just giving everyone time to put together crazy theories."

"Oh god, and Mills!" Claire's face paled. "This is all giving him time to get away." She barely finished her sentence before she had jumped from her seat and was moving for the door, pulling it open only to encounter a Navy woman standing guard on the other side, who prevented her from leaving. "I'm not trying to _leave_ ," Claire replied, frustrated. "Where do you think I'd go? I just need to talk to whoever's in charge here. There's more they need to know. And it's time sensitive."

The woman nodded, and picked up her radio, passing the information along. Claire waited in the doorway, as a short exchange took place. "Someone will come to talk to you," the woman informed her, clipping her radio back to her waist. Claire nodded, turning back into the room, and rejoining the others at the table.

They didn't believe her. Well, that's not entirely true. They just didn't take solely her word for it. After Claire told them about Eli Mills and Wu's connection, they had left, saying they would look into it. They came back a while later, Wu with them, and had her repeat what she'd said. Eventually, Wu seemed to start to understand that his silence wasn't doing him any favours, and he admitted to working with Mills, and that Mills was one of the main bankrollers of the operation.

Claire's only regret about the whole situation, was that she didn't get to see Mills face when he realized he was found out. She knew he'd probably know things weren't looking good the moment the live stream started going viral. He was probably in the midst of fleeing the country or something. But she really wished she'd be there to watch as someone snapped cuffs on him. She really, _really_ , hoped he ended up in handcuffs.

A couple hours later, she found out that they'd found him at the airport, trying to buy a ticket to the Maldives. She took some perverse pleasure knowing that his arrest would've gone down in public. Maybe, hopefully, someone got it on video and she could watch it later.

As the sun rose the following morning, activity picked up across the compound. After talking with Owen, the Navy had decided against docking their ship during the night, instead waiting for daylight where they'd have a better chance of fending off any potential dinosaur attacks. However, now that the sun was up, the ship was docked and more reinforcements were coming to relieve those who had been on duty all night.

Information had been flying fast and furious between those on Sorna, those on the ship and the higher ups back in the States. There were a lot of questions to answer, but the main ones were what to do with the people and the dinosaurs.

As Lowery had predicted, his livestream had gone viral. It had happened late for those on the east coast, with many already in bed and most news shows and even late night comedy shows had been already over for the evening. But it had been early enough to have been picked up live on the west coast. Those who hadn't caught it live, were catching up as they ate breakfast, all the morning shows and newspapers leading with the same story. Both Claire and Lowery were dying to have access to their devices back. Knowing that stuff was happening but not having access to exactly what and how was driving both of them crazy.

By the time the sun was fully up, Claire, Zia and Lowery had been finally debriefed and freed. Although, as Lowery had said, it's not really "free" when you have to stay within a small compound and there are armed personnel watching your every move. Owen hadn't returned to the group, instead helping out the Navy with their planning and providing advice and assistance on how to deal with the dinosaurs.

Once they had been free to roam, Lowery had immediately said he was going to get some sleep, but to wake him when he could get his tablet back. Zia had headed straight around the buildings for the paddocks, excited to finally have her chance to work more closely with the dinosaurs on the island. Both of them had already had an argument over who won their dinosaur bingo game, with Lowery claiming the win over the encounter with the _Baryonyx_. Zia had argued the fact that she'd had to remove a bullet and give Blue stitches should count for extra.

Claire had watched the two head off in different directions, feeling a little lost herself. Normally, she would know exactly where she needed to be and what she needed to be doing, but she wasn't in control here. Instead, she had to wait for them to finally decide they were ready to move her off island. From what she'd gathered so far, they were struggling with how to deal with the various groups of people. Wheatley and his men were the easiest group to arrest. The scientists working for Wu were a bit of a question mark as to whether or not their actions counted as illegal, or if the fact that they were working for InGen made them as individuals less culpable compared to the company. Wu was definitely going to be brought up on charges, although his actions were not as clear cut as Wheatley, and so Claire knew there'd be a huge trial that would likely last years in his future.

And then there were the four of them. While their presence on Sorna (and formally on Nublar) was not legal, their actions exposing the world to what was happening was likely going to save them from anything more than a slap on the wrist. But, even so, she knew the mountain of work that was facing her return had just got a lot bigger.

The DPG was going to be needed now more than ever. And there were a lot of questions to answer. It was clear from their limited time on Nublar, as well as their time on Sorna, that the dinosaurs were not thriving on their own. Hammond wasn't right. They had brought these creatures back and they _did_ need their protection and _not_ their absence. When left without their human caretakers, there were too many dinosaurs and not enough land and resources for them to thrive on their own. On top of that, there would always be someone, somewhere, willing to spend a lot of money to be able to say that they had shot a dinosaur. Abandoning them was no longer a viable solution.

While Claire was exhausted, she didn't feel like she could sleep. Not with all the unanswered questions still running through her head. Standing outside the building, she decided to follow after Zia and see if she could help out. Spend some time with the creatures she had spent the last three years fighting for.

She wasn't all that helpful. She tried, but as much as she cared about the dinosaurs, she was still very wary around them, even from the outside of a paddock. And she wasn't willing to touch the raw meat they were feeding them. After a while, Zia suggested she go and keep Blue company, and Claire had sighed in defeat, apologizing, which Zia had shrugged of.

She was still standing and watching Blue, when Owen sidled up beside her, resting his arms on the gate next to them, his gaze also focused on Blue.

"Hey," Owen said softly, nudging her with his hips when she didn't respond immediately.

"Sorry, lost in thought," Claire shrugged, sparing him a quick glance. "You've been busy."

"Yeah," Owen sighed heavily, resting more of his weight on his arms, his exhaustion apparent. "They have no clue what they've gotten themselves into. Besides the _T-rex_ and the _Triceratops_ , they can't name a single dinosaur species. One guy kept talking about the ones with the 'long necks.'"

"I vaguely remember you making fun of me about the _Indominus_ ' name," Claire gave him a half smile. "Maybe now it'll make more sense."

"Just not a fan of dumbing things down," Owen shrugged. "People should just have to learn." He stared at Blue for a few minutes, watching as she wandered about her cage. She had looked at him briefly when he arrived, but didn't seem eager to engage today, not like yesterday. "How's she doing?"

"She's given me a few looks, but I think we've both been wanting to just be left alone," Claire replied. "There's been a lot of people around. I don't think she likes all the attention."

"Probably pretty shocking after almost three years of being on her own," Owen agreed. "And now she's back trapped in a cage."

"What are we going to do?" Claire asked. "I feel like I've been going in circles all day. We obviously can't leave her in this cage, but she wasn't thriving on Nublar. And I don't think she'd do any better here. On top of that, stopping Wheatley is not going to put a magical end to people who want to come and try their hand at shooting a dinosaur. And Zia's been saying that the other dinosaurs here aren't in great shape either… So I'm even more confused how there's a baby _Triceratops_ on Nublar – what is it about that environment that was working for the _Triceratops_ but not the other dinosaurs? And how did the baby get there? All the dinosaurs on Jurassic World were female!"

"I don't have answers for most of that," Owen had been having similar thoughts all day. "But I _can_ answer the _Triceratops_ question. The eggs in the lab–"

"They've been putting dinosaurs _back_ on Nublar?" Claire interrupted, following where he was going.

"Yep," Owen nodded. "Easier than trying to store all their results here."

"God, what is _wrong_ with all of them," Claire moaned, dropping her head down.

"Many, _many_ , things," Owen let out a small laugh. "But, we don't have to solve all of these problems today. We've already made big in-roads, just by stopping this operation. There's time to figure out the rest."

"I know," Claire nodded, looking up and meeting his eyes briefly. "I've just felt so _useless_ all day. Zia's been dealing with the dinosaurs and I've attempted, badly, to help. Lowery's off sleeping or something. _You_ 've been busy helping. There's nothing for me to do here."

"Well, I was actually looking for you," Owen turned so he was facing her, even though she was still looking at Blue. "They're ready to get you and Lowery off the island."

"Really?" Claire looked excited at the thought, before his words fully sunk in. "Wait, _me and Lowery_? What about you and Zia?"

"They need people who know about the dinosaurs to stay here," Owen shrugged. "Zia and I both volunteered."

"You're _staying_?" Claire looked dismayed at the thought. "You can't stay. It's not safe here."

"I'll be fine," Owen said. "It's not like it's going to be just me. Besides, you guys got the tracking system up and running on Nublar. We're already better off."

"But–"

"And I know you know a lot and could add a lot, too," Owen cut her off. "But you're needed to lead the DPG and to get out in front of all of this. Someone has to figure out how we're going to move forward." He gave her a proud smile, "And there's no one better suited for that job than you." He turned back to Blue, before adding, "You were right, you know? To keep caring about them. To _fight_ for them."

"Well, I owe them," Claire turned to face him with a weak smile.

"No," Owen interrupted her again, facing her as well. "Claire. Things go wrong. You can't always explain it or predict it. But you don't owe them anything. Not the dinosaurs, not the park survivors, none of them. You gotta move on. Stop living in the past, and look at what you got right in front of you."

"What are you talking about?" Claire was confused, her gaze shifting to Blue.

"Me, Claire," Owen looked almost pained as he said it. "Me."

"Right," Claire scoffed, her gaze still on Blue. "You, who would rather live in the middle of nowhere than be with me."

"That's not true," Owen sighed, following her lead, and turning back to face Blue.

"You moved out, Owen," Claire reminded him. "You never even said good-bye. Instead, you just slowly faded away until I realized that you were no longer living with me. That what I had always seen as _our_ house…"

"It wasn't _our_ house," Owen disagreed.

"Why? Because _I_ had money for a downpayment?" Claire tore her gaze from Blue to look at him, tears gathering in the corners of eyes against her will. "We looked for it _together_. We chose _together_. I thought we were buying _together_. That it was for _our_ future. Imagine my surprise…" She took a deep breath. This may not have been the best place for this conversation, but, now that it was started, she might as well carry it through. "You went and bought a place without me. How was I supposed to take that? You started talking about _your_ house and _my_ house. Like they were two separate places. And then… then when I come to see you, you're talking like I'm dating other people. But you've left stuff at my place. I don't know what to think. Am I just… am I just a convenient lay when you're in town? A cheap place to stay?" She paused. "Are _you_ dating someone else?"

"What?" Owen looked horrified at what she was saying. "Is that… Do you really…" He paused, looking away from her for a moment while he gathered his thoughts. "Okay, I'm not even sure where to start." He held up a hand, raising a finger. "First, no, I'm not dating someone else. I _thought_ I was dating you." He raised a second finger. "Second, you never said 'Owen, let's buy a house _together_.'" He add a third finger. "Third, you _encouraged_ me to build on my property. I discussed the plans with you. I was… am building _us_ a cabin."

"You never said 'Hey, I think I'll build a cabin for _us_ ,'" Claire mocked him, interrupting his reply.

"Yeah, well, you're the one who told me to leave," Owen accused back, and they both fell silent.

After a few minutes, Claire asked softly, "Do you have to stay?"

"No, but I _want_ to," Owen replied.

"Okay," Claire nodded, pushing away from the gate. "You said they were ready for me?"

"Claire," Owen reached out for her, his hand dropping to his side when she flinched away. "C'mon. Let's not do this again."

"Do what again?"

"Walk away without clearing the air," Owen stated. "We've never talked about this. Not really. And _clearly_ , relying on assumptions hasn't worked well for either of us."

"Now's not the time," Claire shook her head, turning away.

"No!" Owen reached out, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to face him. "There's never going to be a right time. I can't keep doing this, Claire," Owen sighed, running a hand down his face, scrubbing at his jaw. "I just… I don't know what you want. From me."

"Well, you haven't been any clearer," Claire replied stubbornly. "One minute I thought we were building a life together and the next… Was it all just a reaction? To Jurassic World? And now, to all of this?" Claire looked around them, gaze settling on Blue, who was now watching the two curiously. "If I hadn't told you, if I hadn't gone to Nublar… where would we be?"

"I don't know," Owen admitted. "But," he tugged on her arm again, when she went to pull away. "Claire, I know that I want to be with you."

"Moving out really showed that," Claire rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I'm trying to apologize here," Owen replied. "I can't say that I would've made the first move. But, I really wasn't trying to move out. I wasn't dealing well with everything after Jurassic World. And you found your path forward so easily; starting the DPG."

"I _asked_ you to help," Claire reminded him.

"I know," Owen nodded. "But it wasn't the right thing for me. And it wasn't the right time for me. You've been able to look forward, to stay focused on what the dinosaurs need _now_. I've been too caught up in what I lost that day. Thinking about the park, about the dinosaurs, meant thinking about Charlie, Echo and Delta. It meant thinking about Blue, who I left alone. Being at the lot was just _...easier_. No one asked me about the dinosaurs. I could push them to the back of my mind and just… forget."

"And me?" Claire asked. "Did you want to forget about me?"

"No, never," Owen shook his head. "I just didn't know how to deal with both. And you were so busy with the DPG. I guess I just figured, well, that you wouldn't even really notice."

"I wasn't _that_ caught up with work," Claire disagreed. "Trust me, I noticed you weren't there." She paused, looking away from him, unable to meet his gaze as she said, "I never said anything, because you seemed happier. I didn't want you to stay, if I was making you miserable."

Owen let go of her arm, raising both hands to her face, directing her gaze to his. "I _want_ to be with you. You've _never_ made me miserable," he said softly, staring at her intently. "I _love_ you."

"Really?"

"Really," Owen nodded firmly. "I love you."

"I love you," Claire repeated back, sliding a hand behind his neck, pulling him to her, her lips catching his in a kiss. Owen's hands shifted, pulling her closer, one sliding into her hair while the other rested on her lower back. The kiss would've gone longer, but the snort followed by loud chittering had them breaking away and turning to face Blue, who was staring at them both, commenting loudly in her own language.

Chuckling, Owen pulled out a piece of jerky he'd found in the kitchen and tossed it to the dinosaur, who gobbled it happily. Turning back to Claire, he sighed, "Our timing really sucks. But the helicopter is waiting and they're going to be annoyed that I've taken this long to find you."

"Not really the right place either," Claire said, looking around the compound. She laced her fingers together with his, and let him lead her away from the paddock, heading back around the buildings.

Lowery and Zia were standing by the helicopter, and they hurried over to them. The two were busy arguing, Lowery bugging Zia about staying behind.

"I'm going to miss you," Claire said, hugging her friend.

"Hey, it's not like we'll never see each other again," Zia chided her. "The moment I find my phone, I'll be back online."

"Assuming you don't get eaten," Lowery muttered under his breath.

"Have you looked around? I've got lots of armed people whose only job will be to protect me," Zia quipped. "And some of them are really hot." She nodded towards the woman who had been guarding their door in the building, Lowery followed her gaze before giving her a reluctant nod in agreement.

"Be careful," Claire said, turning back to Owen, her arms sliding around his waist.

"Always," Owen nodded, hugging her back.

"And find a phone or something, will you?" Claire told him. "Let me know what's happening."

"I will," Owen agreed. "But, I bet you'll be back here before you know it. We're going to need you."

"Come on," a Navy man approached the group. "It's time to go."

Lowery and Claire nodded. Lowery picked up his bag and had a quick hug with Zia, followed by a firm handshake with Owen, before he headed to the helicopter.

Claire repeated his actions, grabbing her bag and giving her friend a hug. When she turned back to Owen, he pulled her close, dropping another kiss to her lips. "I love you,' he said again. "I'll see you soon."

"Love you, too," Claire said breathlessly, before pulling back and moving towards the helicopter. Just as she was about to get on, she turned back. "Hey, Owen?"

"Yeah?"

"How'd you know Mills?"

"You think you're the only one he approached?" Owen raised an eyebrow, laughing at her shocked expression. Huffing, Claire turned back to the helicopter and Owen quickly called out, "See you in a few weeks?"

Claire just shook her head, laughing as she climbed into the helicopter. She turned in the doorway, waving goodbye.

* * *

 _Anyone catch the Twister reference? :P_

 _Thanks to **EliseCollier** who stuck with me and supported this project from the moment it was just a glimmer of an idea. And for being the encouragement I needed when I was getting really disillusioned with it at various points. _

_A **huge** thank you to everyone who has taken some time to give a comment, kudos, bookmarked and so on. It means a lot to know that you have scarified some of your free time to spend it with me on this story. I re-read the reviews when I'm struggling to write and it really helps. _

_Two things to be on the look out for:_  
 _1) Epilogue will be up Saturday_  
 _2) The prologue of the joint fic I'm writing with Elise-Collier,_ **The Missing Years** _is coming soon. I'm really excited for it and hope you'll join us on that journey._


	17. Epilogue

_What? It's over? Noooooo! It's really sad to post this. I'm going to miss this story. I hope this epilogue satisfies any lingering questions you had.  
_

 **Epilogue**

It was almost seven weeks to the day before Claire stepped foot back on Nublar.

While Sorna may have been used the most recently, the majority of the dinosaurs had remained on Nublar, making it the leading contender for where to set up base to deal with the latest fallout. It hadn't actually taken all that much work to set up a secure area for personnel there, as many of the old fences were still in place and most of the bunkers were in good condition. They had been able to get the rest of the systems back online pretty easily. Not that they were running at full capacity, but the park had been designed to handle over twenty-five thousand individuals per day and now there were only about twenty.

The past seven weeks had been a whirlwind that centered primarily on a lot of press events. While Lowery's video of Claire's confrontation with Wu had gone viral, it paled in comparison to the number of views and retweets of her video showing the dinosaurs in their small paddocks on Sorna. Claire had been right – the events were just what the DPG needed to get the funds pouring in again. And this time, it wasn't just small money individual donors. They had multiple companies coming forward with large donations, wanting to get in on the free press. Add in the investors who were now clamoring for her time, wanting to see how they could make the DPG successful and financially sound, and Claire had barely had a moment to breathe.

She'd made it a point (although it was also a necessity) to keep on top of what was happening on Sorna and Nublar, checking in every day with Zia and Owen. She'd sent them care packages, as neither had headed to the island with any thoughts of still being there seven weeks later.

So far, they'd moved all the dinosaurs back to Nublar, including capturing the loose _Baryonyx_. They had also set up some motion-sensitive cameras across Sorna, hoping to detect if there were any other loose dinosaurs on the island. The _Baryonyx_ , they'd found out, had actually been one of the first dinosaurs Wheatley and his crew had transported from Nublar. They hadn't perfected their method yet, and it had woken up and gotten loose between the dock and the compound. After a couple of days of unsuccessfully tracking it down, they had decided a loose dinosaur on the island would probably work in their favour if they ended up with any unsuspecting visitors.

Zia, Claire knew, was generally having the time of her life, happily capturing selfies with every dinosaur she treated. She was checking off every square on her bingo card and making sure Lowery knew it. Claire knew it wasn't all fun and games, as Blue was not the only dinosaur who was malnourished, and there had been a few that had to be put down for their own well-being. Those days had been hard on Zia.

Wheatley and his crew were in jail waiting for their trial date to be set, all up on charges of illegal animal trafficking and animal cruelty. Wheatley was also being charged with attempted murder for shooting Owen with the tranq on Nublar. Even though all documents and laptops had been seized, authorities were having trouble tracking down what, if any, communication had already occurred between Wheatley and any potential trophy hunters. It meant that everyone on Nublar was constantly on alert.

Authorities were still trying to decide what to do with InGen, Wu and his scientists. The Gene Guard Act, which had been originally relaxed for Jurassic World, had been put back in place after the Jurassic World incident. The latest experiments that had been occuring on Sorna were found to be in violation of the act. It gave authorities a starting point, and they were trying to figure out just how many charges they could lay. They had been waiting for the eggs on Sorna to hatch, to determine if any of those would qualify as violations.

Claire felt a little bad for Benjamin Lockwood, as the more details were unravelled around Mills involvement, the more clear it became that Mills had made some seriously bad investments over the years. Lockwood was now hovering around the edge of bankruptcy and Mills had been placing all his eggs in the Sorna-Wu basket. She only felt a little bad though, because she believed Lockwood should've had more oversight on Mills operation, especially since it was coming out that Mills had been in contact with Hoskins about the IBRIS project. This had all been building for a long time.

She had no sympathy for Mills, or Lockwood's little flunky as she now called him – although only in her head or with Owen. She knew it was going to be a struggle to pin much of the illegal operations on Mills, as he'd managed to put some distance between himself and his actual contributions, but she hoped they would be able to lock him away for a while. At the very least, his reputation was in ruins.

Trying to capitalize on their viral videos and direct the enthusiasm in productive ways, Lowery had been very busy leading the media strategy, running the social media accounts, and coming up with creative ways for people to feel like they were part of the process, not just blindly handing over money. Once the operation on Nublar had picked up and they'd got the internet connection re-established (Verizon had been _all over_ being a part of that), he had set up various livestreams. Then, along with a couple of the interns, he worked to pull out the most interesting clips they could use to highlight what was happening on the island. He'd tried (and failed) to get Owen to narrate some videos about the various dinosaurs, especially one on Blue.

Owen. She definitely hadn't expected that when they'd finally start exchanging I love you's, that most of them would be happening via text message. One of the first things she'd managed to get to him was a phone. He'd been surprisingly willing to keep it on him, this time. But, maybe that had to do with the fact that there were less than ten people who knew his new number. And she knew he was trying to make sure things went differently this time. That they communicated. She was, too. He'd send her pictures from his day, and updates on how things were going, including requests for her to get rid of a couple of the people who had been sent to the island that he didn't like. She'd vent about the meetings she'd gone to, and the various people she'd had to shake hands and pretend to be happy to interact with. In the evenings, they'd try to touch base with video calls, but those were short, both exhausted from their days.

As she climbed out of the helicopter, she was surprised to realize there were butterflies in her stomach. Since when did meeting up with Owen make her so nervous? Their conversations had been going well, and they both were eager to be back in the same place again. As much as she'd have prefered they'd both been in the same place these past seven weeks, she actually thought it had probably done them both good to _not_ be. They were actually _talking_. Maybe _that's_ why she was nervous – not sure if or how things would change now that they would be together again. Not that she wanted to _only_ talk…

Stepping away from the whirling blades, she was greeted with a fierce hug by Zia. She hugged her back tightly, before pulling back, her gaze sweeping across the area.

"He's not here," Zia confirmed, as she came up empty, Owen nowhere in sight.

"I'm not–" Claire blushed, cutting herself off.

"Of course you are," Zia laughed and hugged her friend again, before moving beside her directing her away from the helicopter. "He wanted to be. But some of the eggs are hatching."

"Wait, then why are _you_ here?" Claire looked at her friend. "You can't tell me that _you_ don't want to be watching the eggs hatch. And, aren't you the lead vet? Shouldn't you be there?"

"I do and I should," Zia agreed, approaching a park Jeep and climbing into the drivers side. "We're going right there. I _told_ Owen they wouldn't hatch before you got here. That he had time to come meet you. He disagreed."

Claire held on tight to the door, watching the scenery almost fly by. "Considering our speed, I'm guessing you're not 100% confident you were right."

"I was right. I _am_ right," Zia gave her a quick glance. "I just… I _really_ don't want to be wrong."

It was only a couple of minutes later that they pulled up at main lab building, Zia screeching the jeep to a halt before leaping out of it. Not wanting to hold her friend up, Claire was barely a half step behind, as they tore up the stairs and into the building. As they got close to the lab, Zia slowed to a normal pace, and put on a relaxed smile as she entered the room.

"Told you we'd be back in time," Zia stated proudly, coming to a stop beside the egg nest, happily noting that all four eggs were still intact, one of them just starting to show cracks.

"Yeah? And how fast did you drive?" Owen raised an eyebrow at her, before looking past her to see Claire. "Claire!" He moved away from the eggs, not stopping until he had enveloped her in a hug. She tilted her head up just as he dropped his down, both having eagerly awaited this moment. Claire moved to deepen the kiss, only to be interrupted by Zia's exclamation.

"Oh, I see a claw!"

Owen immediately shifted, arms still around Claire, but gaze now over on the eggs. Claire gave him another quick hug, before gently shoving him away. "Go watch."

Owen turned back to her, hopeful expression warring with regret on his face. "Are you sure…? I don't _have_ to be here."

"We've got time," Claire pushed him lightly again.

"Yeah?" Owen said, a grin spreading across his face. "How long are you here for?"

"To be determined," Claire shrugged. "I can do a lot of my work from here now. Lowery's holding down the fort at HQ."

Owen couldn't help himself, arms wrapping around her again, as he met her for a quick kiss. "Best news ever," he claimed, before pulling her with him back to the eggs.

They stood beside Zia, arms wrapped around each other, watching the baby dinosaur arm fight the egg shell in its attempt to break through, getting a glimpse of a small eye within.

"Hey, does that look like a raptor?"

* * *

 _Well... that's all folks. :)_

 _If you made it this far,_ please _let me know what you thought of it.  
_

 _Once you've done that, go check out_ **The Missing Years** _\- what_ really _happened between JW and FK? The prologue will be posted soon (once ffn lets us!), but you need to look for our new author account - **EliseCollier-akaJB**. FFN really doesn't make it easy to collaborate with others. :( Make sure you follow that account/story to get updates._

 _Oh - and a new angst heavy snapshot coming soon too. :)_


End file.
